On Friday, Jan. 24, the Hillsdale women’s swim team fell by a mere 3.5 points to the Eagles of Ashland University, 132-129.5. The senior night and last regular season meet was extremely close the whole time, and was determined by the final event.
As is typical for the Chargers, they received a strong showing from their distance swimmers. Sophomore Zoe Hopkins led the way in the 1000 free, with an impressive 10:49.66. Fellow sophomore Hannah Leitner and junior Jordan Rucinski rounded out the top three with times of 11:10.23 and 11:21.9, respectively.
Hopkins was back at it again in the 500 free, cruising home for the win in 5:15.33. Freshman Kylie Powrie and sophomore Jennifer Wheeler finished off the 1-2-3 sweep by finishing in 5:20.76, and 5:24.61, respectively.
Other notable performances were recorded by freshman Emily Shallman (second in the 200 free in 1:58.9 and first in the 50 fly in 27.55), junior Cayley Cruickshank (first in the 50 breast in 31.58), Wheeler (first in the 200 fly in 2:11.29), junior Rachel Kurtz (first in the 50 free in 24.62 and second in the 100 free in 55.07), and finally from sophomore Sarah Rinaldi (first in the 100 IM in 1:01.68, and third in the 200 back in 2:15.37).
For Leitner, it was good and bad realizing that the final regular season meet had ended.
“It was sort of a relief, but also a wakeup call too. The end of the season is stressful, and we’ll have to focus more at practice. This week we’ll see our yardage start to come down a little bit, and then we’ll really start tapering, which is the best part of the season,” she said.
Freshman Whitley Sowell was happy with the meet.
“I swam pretty well overall, and I’m excited to see the results of everyone’s hard work at the end of the season,” Sowell said.
Coach Kirner was happy with the Chargers, despite the loss. Kirner was happy with Hopkins in particular.
“She’s the one who sets the standard for everyone else,” Kirner said.
Kirner was also pleased with Shallman and Cruickshank, who won the 50 fly and 50 breast (two rarely-swam events).
“Emily and Cayley swam against people who may be better at the 100 or 200 but they came through and won anyway, using their chance at the odd event,” Kirner said. “We are very excited, and primed to go fast [at GLIACs]. Nothing is going to be given to us, but the possibility is there for us to succeed. The events will be spread out more, because it’s a full four-day event this time. Also, now that Indy and Lewis are out of the conference, there will be more opportunities for our girls to swim.”
After this tough loss on senior night, the Chargers will swim next at the four-day GLIAC championships, taking place in Cleveland, Ohio Feb. 12-15.
