The Hillsdale women’s swim team winning percentage for this season jumped from zero to over .500 within a 24-hour period, as they notched four wins in this weekend’s meets.
On Friday night, the Chargers hosted and topped Albion College (111-103) and Tiffin University (128-47). The Chargers capped off their successful weekend the following morning as they beat both Olivet (165-44) and Ohio Northern University (131-87).
The Chargers took first place in almost all their events on Friday night. Sophomore Zoe Hopkins kicked off the winning streak for the Chargers, taking the 1000 free in 10:58.05. Junior Rachel Kurtz, swimming her longest event, won the 200 free in 1:59.73. Sophomore Alissa Jones led a 1-2-3 sweep for the Chargers in the 50 free, coming home in 25.93.
Freshman Emily Balog next won the 200 IM in 2:15.93, and was followed by sophomore Jennifer Wheeler, who dominated the field in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:14.93. Junior Ali Bauer came out on top in two events, winning the 100 free in 56.26 and the 200 breast in 2:33.23. Freshman Emily Shallman rounded out the win for the Chargers, taking the 500 free in 5:24.72.
The Chargers capitalized on Friday’s wins and carried the success into Saturday as they beat both of their opponents. The Chargers won every single freestyle event, with Wheeler taking the 1000 in 11:01.73, Shallman the 200 in 2:01.37, Kurtz both the 50 and 100 in 24.98 and 54.67 respectively. Also, sophomore Naofa Noll, freshman Kylie Powrie, senior Hayley Johnson, and Kurtz won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:44.98.
Even though they didn’t win, Hillsdale’s depth paid off in two events, namely the 200 IM with Bauer and Noll going 2-3, and the 100 butterfly, with Shallman, sophomore Hannah Leitner, and senior Alison Johnson going 2-3-4. Hillsdale’s depth was especially pronounced in one of its stronger areas, breaststroke, as junior Cayley Cruickshank, Balog, Bauer, and senior Kate Smith managed to go 1-2-3-4 in the 100 breast.
Kurtz had a great weekend. Despite still being slightly sick, she managed to win every one of her events.
Kurtz said she is happy with how things are going this season and that she wants to avenge her disappointment from last year when she missed going to nationals in the 50 free by .01 seconds, a tantalizingly small amount of time. She also said she is looking forward to the Chicago Invite, where the competition will be stiff and where everybody will be gunning for fast times.
Head coach Kurt Kirner was very happy with the four wins from the weekend.
“We had a chance to swim around different events, and we had some really good times considering that the girls are training very hard right now and are fatigued,” he said.
The girls will next swim at Malone.
“We have a strong rivalry with Findlay, and our main goal for our meet at Malone is to beat them,” Kirner said.
Following Malone, the team will travel to Chicago for the most important meet prior to GLIACs. They will rest briefly before the meet, swimming slightly less and easing off the weights. Until then though, they will stick to their rigorous training schedule and keep working hard.
