Marshall University Athletics
Herd Set to Face Big Ten Foe Ohio State Friday
1/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Jan. 11, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio - After nearly a month away from competition, the Marshall Thundering Herd women's swimming and diving team will begin the new year against Big 10 foe Ohio State in a 6 p.m. meet Friday at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavillion.
Like the Herd, Ohio State (3-2, 0-2 Big 10) will see its first action in a month. The Buckeyes finished third in the Ohio State Invitational Dec. 2-4 in Columbus.
The meet marks the first-ever meeting between the schools and it is the first meet for Marshall (5-6, 0-1 C-USA) since Dec. 17. In its first home meet of the season, the Herd dropped a 159-135 heartbreaker to in-state rival West Virginia University.
"Ohio State is obviously a big-time opponent and the Buckeyes present a challenge," Marshall head coach Leonard Kraus said.
"They had two swimmers and four divers compete at the NCAA Championships last year and we are looking forward to swimming against a team at that level."
During the Herd's home opener against WVU, senior Milla Kuurto (Lohja, Finland/Lohja) posted three victories in the 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard IM. Kuurto's time of 55.86 in the 100 fly was 15 hundredths of a second off her pool record. She later tied a pool record in the 200 IM with a time of 2:07.04.
Senior Casey Mulholland (Stone Mountain, Ga./St. Pius) won both the one- and three-meter diving events, while setting a pool and school record in the three-meter with a score of 298.35.
For her efforts, Mulholland was named the Conference USA Diver of the Week for Dec. 21. The award was her second weekly honor of the season.
"It will be good to see Milla compete against a strong swimmer in the butterfly such as Ohio State's Nicole Maglich," Kraus said.
Last season, Maglich qualified for the NCAA Championships in three events, including the 200-yard butterfly. Maglich earned Big Ten Swimmer of the Week honors in December after recording three NCAA qualifying times.
"We plan to be competitive and we hope competing against Ohio State will become a yearly event."
Following its meet Friday at Ohio State, the Marshall Thundering Herd will return to action Friday, Jan. 27, when it faces Ohio University at 4 p.m. in Athens, Ohio. Then, the Herd will close out its regular season Saturday, Jan. 28, when it hosts Akron in a 1 p.m. meet at the Frederick A. Fitch Natatorium for Senior Day.
