Oregon State Hosts Utah for Senior Day and DAM Cancer

Saturday, February 3

Corvallis, Ore.

10:00 AM

Oregon State

Utah

January 31, 2018 | Women's Swimming

Beavers will honor two seniors and alumni at meet

By: Athletic Communications

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State University swimming program will wrap up the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 3, with a Pac-12 dual meet against Utah at the Osborn Aquatic Center.

The Beavers will honor their two seniors, Emma Osowski (Valencia, Calif.) and Noemie Midrez (Verviers, Liège, Belgium) before the dual. Additionally, OSU will honor alumni Marcia Brown, neé Matthews, a diver at OSU who competed from 1979-82, as part of Oregon State's DAM Cancer meet presented by The Corvallis Clinic.

Osowski and Midrez saw action in the water all four years of their career in the Orange and Black and both were selected to the Pac-12 All-Academic teams on multiple occasions.

Midrez is a two-time selection to the Pac-12 All-Academic first team as her 3.99 GPA during her sophomore season was the highest of any swimmer named to the team. The Belgium native consistently turned in her top time at the Pac-12 Championships as she posted season bests in the 500 free, 200 free and 100 free during the 2014-15 championships before further lowering her time in the 200 and 500 free in the 2016-17 championships.

Osowski is a two-time selection to the Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention team and also turned in top times at the Pac-12 Championships. The Valencia, Calif., native clocked a season best in the 200 free at the 2014-15 championships as a freshman before setting another personal best in the same event in the 2015-16 championships. Osowski also posted a season best in the 500 free at the 2015-16 championships.

Oregon State faced Utah to being the 2016-17 season in Salt Lake City as the Utes took the dual at 157-96. Osowski recorded a fifth-place finish in the 100 free at 11:30.56, while sophomore Felicia Anderson (Portland, Ore.), then a freshman, recorded her first collegiate event win in the 100 back with a time of 57.51.

The Beaver's meet against Utah on Saturday will also be the DAM Cancer dual as the Beavers honor alumni Marcia Brown, née Matthews, who passed away on February 19, 2017, from leiomyosarcoma, a form of smooth muscle cancer.

Brown competed for the Orange and Black from 1979-82 before graduating with a degree in speech communications. She participated in the one-meter and three-meter diving events for Vicki Bringle, who was the diving coach for the Beavers at the time, under the direction of head coach Bob Yamate.

A native of Mercer Island, Wash., Brown saw action in the pool all four of her years in Corvallis after wrapping up her career at Mercer Island High School as a finalist in the state meet.

Brown saw plenty of time on the diving board and helped lead Oregon State during the 1979-80 season when the Beavers finished 12-1 in the dual season, which remains a school record to this day.

On February 1, 1980, the OSU swim program was scheduled to dual Idaho and Montana but ran into weather problems on the way to the airport. The Beavers' original plan to drive to the meet in Moscow, Idaho, was cut short after an ice storm hit the Pacific Northwest, forcing the program to fly out of Portland instead.

The trip up to the City of Roses was beset by abandoned cars scattered on the roads, prompting some of the team members to push the vehicles out of the path of the team bus.

Nevertheless, the team eventually made to the Portland Airport after the airline delayed the departure, and the results were back-to-back dual wins over the Vandals (82-49) and the Grizzles (107-22). Brown had an especially successful meet as she took second and went 1-2 on the podium with teammate Rhonda Flatz (1980-83) as Brown posted a 156.45 on six dives in the one-meter, to go with a 157.20 mark in six dives on the three-meter springboard.

The three-meter event was challenging enough for Brown as she attempted a reverse-1½ somersault for the first time in competition and third time ever in her career. She was elated at the result of the three-meter dive.

53125 — *Brown arches back toward the water*

At the 1980 NCWSA Regional Championships, Brown took 10th in the one-meter (11 dives) at 260.50 and 11th in the three-meter (11 dives) at 219.30 as the Beavers took second as a team.

Brown also had a successful showing at the 1982 NCWSA Championships, finishing in seventh in the one-meter (11 dives) at 325.80 and posting a score of 295.30 in the three-meter (11 dives) to finish in 10th. Oregon State took second yet again, ahead of Washington State, Idaho, the University of Puget Sound, Oregon and Montana.

Another career highlight for Brown came in the dual against BYU on January 23, 1981, as she set the school record (at the time) in the one-meter (six dives) at 204.30.

Outside of the pool, Brown earned an academic achievement award for her success in the classroom following her performance on the diving board.

Brown was eventually married to Jeff Brown (Oregon State, '82) in 1987. She was considered an outgoing and respectful person, according to her husband, and always made people around her feel encouraged and good about themselves. The couple had three children, Carl, Sarah and Jackie.

Carl graduated from Washington State in 2010 in computer engineering, Sarah graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2012 and is currently on deployment in North Africa, and Jackie is currently a sophomore at Oregon State in the mechanical engineering program and works for the US Navy as a nuclear machinist.

The Beavers will honor Brown during one of the breaks at the dual on Saturday.

For more information on the Oregon State swimming team, visit OSUBeavers.com or follow the club @BeaverSwim on Twitter

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