Ottawa graduate Mallory Pitstick, Youngstown State swimmers battling uncertainty

About the only thing Mallory Pitstick knows for sure about her swimming career at Youngstown State University is that, well, there’s not a lot that’s certain.

The Ottawa High School graduate and former IHSA state qualifier for the La Salle-Peru Lady Cavaliers swim co-op has competed in just two meets for the Penguins over the last few months … because that’s all they’ve had, one a pandemic-ruined loss against Ohio University on Nov. 21 and the other a tough three days at the Miami of Ohio Invitational on Dec. 3-5.

There were three meets slated for the last two weeks of January, including a home dual with Gannon on Jan. 23 and at the Butler Invitational on Jan. 24, but all have been postponed. That means the Penguins may not return to action until the Horizon League Championships on Feb. 17-20. The conference’s overall schedule has already been extended from its usual end in February well into April.

Until then, the Penguins will continue with their weight training, their 20 hours a week in-pool training, their very limited social interaction around campus, and their classes.

“It’s been tough, but it’s going better. We’re getting through it.”

—  Youngstown State swimmer Mallory Pitstick

“I’ve lost track of how many meets we’ve had canceled,” said Pitstick, now a junior majoring in fashion merchandising at the school. “It was a big upset, but we did end up getting two in. … For the whole team, this has definitely been hard mentally.

“It got really bad once our original mid-season back in November was canceled. We were all very low, so we ended up throwing in some team activities and stuff just to keep everyone’s mental edge sharp, or at least as good as it could be.

“Coming from Ottawa, where there were some tough challenges I had to get through, with the change of the high school team (Ottawa’s programs becoming part of the L-P co-op) and my transition from one club team to another, that’s prepared me for a season like this. It’s been tough, but it’s going better.

“We’re getting through it.”

Youngstown State took it on the chin in its first meet of the season Nov. 11 at Beeghly Natatorium against Ohio University, having only 11 swimmers available against the entire Bobcats roster because so many Penguins had just cleared quarantine, but not for action in the pool. Another contributing factor to the 225-65 loss was their home facility was unavailable for practice early in the week due to a problem with its chlorine levels.

But that came despite a solid performance by Pitstick. With most of her team watching and cheering her on through some big glass windows at the Nixon Aquatic Center, she placed second in the 200 backstroke (2:25.14), third in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.10), fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:15.02), and fifth as part of the 200 medley relay (1:53.85).

“That wasn’t what I expected at all. I expected to do a lot worse,” Pitstick said with a giggle. “I ended up getting my one best time in the breaststroke, an event I hadn’t taken part in for years, so that was exciting. And because there are a lot of breaststroke (specialists) in the lower classes, I’ve been transitioning more to the IM and had a decent time in that, so that was nice.

“That was just for fun, just to get a meet in, and that felt pretty good to actually compete for a change.”

Pitstick and the Penguins surprised themselves with their next meet at Miami of Ohio. The local girl’s highlight was finishing sixth in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:05.64 in the finals. She also had the fifth-best time of 2:24.42 in the 200 breaststroke.

She and her teammates are taking solace that at least they’re having a season at all, as the pandemic is forcing some small- to medium-sized colleges to cut programs as a cost-savings measure.

Pitstick hasn’t heard of any cuts around her school’s athletic department or at others in the conference, nor around the YSU campus in general for the student body of 12,155. The men’s team, however, has accepted a transfer whose previous two schools had both experienced cuts to the swimming program.

“That was obviously a major concern of ours,” said Pitstick, “because so many other schools are having programs cut, but they’ve made it very clear to us that they’re not planning on doing that, plus the fact that we just got the new men’s team. We feel they would cut a program that they just brought back just a few years ago, so that was very reassuring. President (Jim) Tressel has said that athletics are something he really wants to keep.

“We’ve been told to actually try and bring in more athletes to try and keep tuition up, so we’re feeling good about that right now. … We just want to get back in the pool to compete as soon as possible.”