The Lawrence swimming and diving teams have had a lot of success so far in their season. They have had three meets, all at home at the Boldt Natatorium.
In the first meet of the season, the St. Norbert College sprint meet Oct. 25, the Vikes competed against teams including UW-Oshkosh, Marquette University, Central Michigan University, Loyola University of Chicago Swim Club, St. Norbert College and Beloit College.
The women finished in second place with 346 points, beat out by UW-Oshkosh with their 538 points. The men’s team topped the meet with 413.5 points. The next team, UW-Oshkosh, was nearly 60 points behind the men. Key performances by seniors Sam Szynskie and Chrissie Nelson helped the women achieve their second-place position. Senior Taylor Brengel was a major force for the men’s team.
The second meet Nov. 8 allowed more Vikes the opportunity to show what they have. UW-River Falls beat the women 140-83. The men defeated UW-River Falls 158-62. The men were led by senior co-captain Kyle Griffin in the 1,000 freestyle, earning 9 team points. Lawrence dominated the men’s 200 freestyle, earning both first and second places.
Likewise, in the men’s 50 freestyle, Brengel and Collin McCanna took first and second places, finishing along with Karl Vogel and Chris Sze who took seventh and eighth places and added to the Lawrence team total.
The women were led by senior co-captain Hayley Vatch in the 1,000 freestyle and the 100 butterfly. Additional key players for the women’s team were Emily Mohr and Szynskie.
The third meet of the season at Lawrence Nov. 15 was against UW-Whitewater. UW-Whitewater defeated both the men’s and women’s teams, 149-75 and 132-92, respectively. Griffin took first place in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:19.34. Vatch took first in the same event for the women’s team with a time of 5:19.00, finishing 15 seconds before the second-place finisher from UW-W.
The Vikes are in action at their last home game Saturday, Nov. 22 at 1 p.m. in the recreation center.