The Hillsdale College Chargers will host Indiana Wesleyan University in a dual meet Friday, and Ashland University and Saginaw Valley State University in a tri-meet Saturday.
After bringing back a couple of wins and achieving lifetime best times from the Calvin Invite in December, the swimmers are proud to see their hard work pull through and are ready to compete again in the upcoming meets.
Sophomore Katherine Heeres said she is looking forward to racing again after having a month off.
“I’m excited to see how the team races after some hard training over the break,” Heeres said. “I think that we all just want to see where we’re at and hope to find some clarity in what events we should swim at G-MACs.”
Heeres said she and the Chargers who went to the Calvin Invite last December managed to clock a few season-best times, many of which were close to personal best times. Heeres made a new record in the 100 backstroke in 57.63. Beating her own school record, Heeres said she is excited to see how she and her teammates can better these times at the G-MACs. She expects the team to swim well against the competition this weekend.
“This season I’ve been focusing on my backstroke starts and it was pretty exciting to see how that improvement helped me drop time,” Heeres said. “That being said, I am looking forward to seeing what everyone can do at our next dual meets and conference meet this semester.”
Junior Catherine Voisin said she is looking forward to competing against tough opponents since they will challenge the Chargers to compete to their full potential. At the Calvin Invite, Voisin placed first in the 200 butterfly in 2:06.8, ninth in the 100 butterfly in 57.62, and 20th in the 200 IM in 2:17.04. Voisin said she missed having the rest of her team there and is excited to compete with all of them in the upcoming meets.
“The biggest challenge of the Calvin meet was the fact that we could only bring a small number of girls,” Voisin said. “Their support is very important to me and I always appreciate it.”
Looking ahead into future meets, head coach Kurt Kirner said the team is currently building off the training they did in Key West from winter break. Kirner said it’s all about the dual meets for securing solid race plans and mechanics in preparing for the G-MAC Championship meet in four weeks.
“We need to get the swimmers who were injured back up to par and those who have been engaged all season to build their race mindset around what they need to perfect and what pieces still need to be put in place,” Kirner said. “Championships get lifetime best performances.”