Indy hands swim team first defeat

Home Sports Indy hands swim team first defeat

The Hillsdale College swim team made the most of their break.

Not only did the team spend 10 days in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and swim in two meets, but senior captain Linda Okonkowski broke the Jack McAvoy pool record in the 200-yard butterfly.

During the training trip the swim team practiced twice a day and spent the rest of the time recovering on the beach and petting manatees and jellyfish.

“The intensity was really up,” Okonkowski said.

The Charger women faced one team during their stay in Florida — Division I Iowa State University from the Big 12 conference.

There were no officials or scorekeeping but the women said they fared well against the Cyclones.

“We were able to keep up,” senior captain Katie Lamb said.

By Jan. 14, the women had returned to campus to swim for their final home meet of the season and senior night. In the last home race of her career at Hillsdale, Okonkowski swam a 2:09.57 in the 200 fly and took the pool record held since 2005 by former Charger swimmer Cylie Hoopingarner.

“I had no idea,” Okonkowski said. “It was my last [home] race ever so I gave it my all.”

Despite solid winning swims from a number of Chargers, including freshman Jordan Rucinski in the 500-yard freestyle, freshman Rachel Hoffer in the 1000-yard freestyle, and junior Sports Editor Sarah Leitner in the 200-yard backstroke, Indy took the meet by one point.

Indy’s win, however, came with some controversy. Leitner was awarded second place by .04 seconds after her timing pad malfunctioned. The judges decided to award her opponent the win.

“Those things happen,” junior captain Sami Ward said.

A one-point defeat was still a strong showing for the Chargers. Indianapolis, who rested some sprinters in the Hillsdale meet, is expected to challenge conference powerhouses Grand Valley State University and Wayne State University at the conference meet.

The Charger rounded out the regular season at the Butler Invitational held at Fisher High School in Indianapolis.

The team competed against a number of Midwest Division I programs including Butler University, Xavier University, Valpraiso University, Ball State University, and Youngstown State University.

“We were right behind a bunch of DI teams,” Ward said.

The team took third in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:52.73. Senior captain Alicia Leduc, Okonkowski, freshman Rachel Kurtz, and sophomore Kate Smith made up the relay team.

Hillsdale sprinters Kurtz, junior Hayley Johnson, and junior Lauren Burt came through in a big way, respectively taking first through third.

Okonkowski captured first in the 200 IM. Leitner (200 backstroke) and Kurtz (100 freestyle) both captured third place finishes.

The meet would be the last competitive swimming for the team until GLIACs. The team captains agreed Butler was a good meet to fine tune and work on little things before they ease up on the intensity of their training

With the swimmers tapering, the team has their eyes set on the conference meet Feb. 8 to 11.

The team captains said their goals are to improve on their fifth-place finish from last year and send teammates to the national meet in March. With nearly every Charger swimming faster times this year, a fourth place finish is realistic.

“We really didn’t lose anybody,” Leduc said.

One thing that the women said they know for certain is that Hillsdale records will fall.

“Our record board will be rewritten at GLIACs,” Ward said.