The Lawrence University swim team gained a conference victory over Beloit College last Saturday, Oct. 29 at the Buchanan Kiewit Wellness Center pool. The women’s team took 114 team points and kept Beloit to only 71 points. The men’s team earned an outstanding 119 team points, holding Beloit to a mere 45 points.
The squad of Helen Noble, Deirdre Solymosi, Katie Obermiller and Julia Heller kicked off the meet for the Viking women’s swim team, taking first place in the women’s 200-yard medley relay with a time of 2:05.20.
Heller also went on to win the women’s 50-yard freestyle with a time of 28.87 and took second place in the women’s 100-yard freestyle with a time of 59.59, just 0.04 seconds behind Beloit’s Nora Holte. Freshman Taylor Winter pulled out an incredible win in the mixed 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:12.96.
Winter also took first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:30.17, followed closely behind by Lawrence’s Hannah Gabriel who earned a second-place time of 5:41.64. Hannah Gabriel also performed well in the 200-yard freestyle, taking first place with a time of 2:05.66. The women finished off the women’s competition with a bang in the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay. The Lawrence team of Noble, Hameister, Gabriel and Winter defeated Beloit College with a time of 1:50.45 and a full nine seconds to spare as Beloit pulled in a time of 1:59. 77.
The men’s team started the meet with a victory in the men’s 200-yard medley relay. Senior Peter Brengel, along with sophomores Cameron Gmehlin, Tom Vogel and Pat Vincent, earned a time of 1:45.98, defeated Beloit College (1:55.91) with about ten seconds to spare. Gmehlin went on to take two more wins in both the men’s 200-yard IM and the men’s 100-yard breaststroke with times of 2:10.00 and 1:07.88, respectively.
The Brengel brothers also had solid performances in Saturday’s competition. Peter Brengel took first in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke with times of 23.19 and 56.91, respectively. Sophomore Walker Brengel swam a 2:02.58 200-yard freestyle, earning first place over Beloit’s Ike Watson (2:14.90).
Walker also took second in the men’s 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.24, a mere second behind Beloit’s Tyler Senz (53.24).
Other notable performances include Pat Vincent, who took first in the men’s 100-yard butterfly, and Charlie Malchow, who took first in the men’s 500-yard freestyle. Vincent and Malchow, along with Walker Brengel and David Dulak, finished off the meet with a victory in the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:38.35.
Commenting on the first conference victory of the season, junior Samantha Schilsky noted, “It was great that we won, but more importantly, everyone swam well. A lot of people had great times and it really showed that we came into this season in good physical shape.”
The Lawrence University swim team competes again this Friday, Nov. 4 on the Lawrence campus against UW-River Falls.