This previous weekend, the Lawrence University Swim Team travelled down to Lake Forest, Illinois to compete in the Lake Forest College Triangular against Lake Forest College and the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. Despite the defeat in the triangular, there were several notable performances throughout the events on both the men’s and women’s side for the Vikings, while the team cheered each other on to really keep the energy flowing amongst everyone.
Freshman Alena Hanson was the key character from the Viking’s performance as she crushed her components in the 200-meter individual medley in a stunning time of 2:18.16 to win the event. Freshman Elise Riggle, another top performer, grabbed second in the 800 freestyle in 10:05.19, just a few seconds behind Lake Forest’s Ani Karagianis, who had a time of 10:01.62. Senior Paige Witter placed third in the 100 butterfly in 1:09.88, while senior Danielle Millin also placed third in the 100 backstroke in 1:12.81. The 200 medley relay team that consisted of Millin, sophomore Emmi Zheng, Witter, and junior Eryn Blagg placed fourth with a time of 2:13.27. Lake Forest grabbed the win from the Vikings, 121-92, and UW-Whitewater defeated the Vikings 172-57.
On the men’s side junior Travis Charlow placed fifth in the 100 freestyle in 59.49 seconds, while freshman Tom Goldberg placed sixth with a time of 1:01.55. Senior Christian Bell placed fifth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 26.37 seconds. Sophomore Max Stahl placed sixth in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:08.89. Goldberg also placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke. The Vikings’ 200 medley relay team that consisted of Charlow, Stahl, Bell and Goldberg placed fifth with a time of 2:01.73. Lake Forest defeated the Vikings’ 174-23, and UW-Whitewater defeated the Vikings 191-20.
This meet was the last meet before the Wisconsin Private College Championships, which will be hosted by Carthage College and held on Jan. 28 at the Koenitzer Aquatic Center. Carroll University, Ripon College, and Beloit College will also be bringing teams to this meet along with Lawrence and Carthage. Each of these teams provided good competition for the Vikings which will invoke motivation to perform their bests. This is the last meet and the final chance to trim off time for the Vikings before they head to the Midwest Conference Championships from Feb. 17 to 19. The Midwest Conference (MWC) Championships will be held at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. The MWC Championship is the Vikings’ biggest and final competition of the season. By this meet, the team hopes to be at their peak, performing their best times of the season and doing the best they can in the water while also showing full support of their teammates out of the water, as they have always done in the past.