The men’s and women’s swimming and diving championships took place this past weekend at the rec center, with Lawrence hosting the whole conference to determine who would reign supreme in the pool.
The women took second place overall with 766 points, while the men placed fourth with 516 points.
This was an extremely strong way to end the season for both teams; many individual swimmers and relay teams gave it their all and set personal records and pool records as they represented Lawrence extremely well.
This was the end to a successful season under first-year coach Daniel Lloyd.
The women had four of their five relay teams take second place: the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 44.33 seconds, the 400-yard freestyle in 3:49.68, the 400-yard medley relay with 4:14.64 and the 800-yard freestyle relay in 8:15.15.
All four relay teams earned big points for the women’s side to keep them in contention with Grinnell throughout the weekend. The women also had an incredible display of individual talent from many of their swimmers.
Senior Jenni Hair took fourth place in both the 200-yard IM and the 400-yard IM, swimming for a personal best in the 400-IM with a time of 4:57.99.
Freshman Rebecca Hamlyn and junior Mandy Schlais continued their excellence in the 100-yard butterfly, taking second and third with times of 1:00.70 and 1:03.17, respectively.
Hamlyn also took third place in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:16.06. Freshman Kelsey Gray took third place for the women in the 200-yard backstroke, and freshman Anna Zuke took fourth in the 50-yard freestyle.
The women’s excellence continued throughout the meet as sophomore Julia Ziege took first place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:01.83. As she has all year, junior Hayley Vatch continued her conference dominance, setting personal records in the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle.
She placed first and second in those two events. More importantly, she won the 1650-freestyle in a time of 17:49.25, which is less than two seconds off of the NCAA requirements to qualify for nationals.
She will be swimming again this weekend to attempt to qualify one more time.
The men’s side was led by strong relay teams and excellent individual swimmers.
The men’s 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard medley relay, 400-yard freestyle and 800-yard freestyle teams all took fifth place. The men had great performances across the board, ranging from the sprints to the distance swimmers.
Freshman Collin McCanna and junior Taylor Brengel took fourth and fifth place in the 50-yard freestyle with times of 22.73 and 22.76 respectively. Brengel also took second place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 56.04.
Freshman Nick Johnson took fifth place in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:05.24.
Junior Kyle Griffin had personal bests in all three of his events. He took third place in the 400 IM with a time of 4:33.27, fourth place in the 500-frestyle in 4:55.25, and won the mile, the 1650-freestyle in 16:58.32.
The divers competed at the end each of the first two days and the Lawrence divers made it worth the wait.
Senior Marissa Vallette finished second place in both the 1-meter diving and the 3-meter diving, with scores of 375.15 and 342.70.
Senior Bryan Rosen took third place in both the 1-meter diving and the 3-meter diving, with scores of 312.80 and 335.30.
The swimming season is one of the longest seasons for the student-athletes on this campus, and while it is sad that the end has arrived, the swimmers and divers have put a lot of time and effort into something they love to do.
Congratulations to all of the swimmers and divers on a great year. You’ve made Lawrence proud!
Swimming successful at home championship meet
