Lawrence finished second overall this past Saturday in the Private College Championships held in Carthage.
Carthage College managed to take home titles for both the men’s and women’s teams, but the Vikings were able to stay close behind the leader and capture the second highest spot on the podium through great, individual performances.
“Our out of the pool team bonding is what helped us swim fast this past weekend. It was also great sticking it to Carroll and beating them out of second place,” commented junior Charlie Mann on the key to team success this past week.
For the women, freshman Emily Flack managed to carry her team, picking up to two individual titles. She won in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke with times of 1:03.36 and 2:16.80, showing her ability to perform well in her young career.
However, it was not just Flack who was on top of the competition this weekend. Freshman Hayley Cardinal added to Lawrence’s first place finishes with a 1:09.71 time in the 100-yard breaststroke, beating Carthage’s Michelle Hance with 87 hundredths of a second. Also, she placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:32.65.
Taylor Winter won in the 1,650-yard freestyle and crushed her competition. Second place Taylor Hutton of Carthage was a mere 30 seconds behind Winter in the event, clearly displaying her dominance. Winter also had a respectable second place finish in the 500-yard freestyle.
Also notable for the women was junior Chelsea Hameister’s 400-yard individual medley second place finish with a time of 5:14.93.
For the men, juniors Evan Flack and Charlie Mann continue to provide important team points with strong individual results. Flack did not pick up as many first place finishes as his sister this weekend but he did manage to win the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.76, which was convincingly best in the event.
Mann won the 100-yard backstroke at 57.97 as he once again had a stellar performance in the event.
“Compared to the rest of the conference, I am not the fastest in the event. I think that one of my best qualities though, is being able to block that out of my mind and racing myself every week trying to get faster,” said Mann about his recent success.
In the 200-yard backstroke Mann managed to finish second just 26 hundredths behind the winner.
Lawrence swimming continues to look strong as they set their sights on the next event which will be the MWC Championships Feb. 15 to17 at Grinnell.