Chargers beat rival Findlay

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Chargers beat rival Findlay

The swim team won their tri-meet against University of Findlay and Lewis University this past Saturday, beating Findlay 144-77 and Lewis 159-46.

Head Coach Kirt Kirner said he was pleased with how the team performed against their rival Findlay

“I was really concerned because the week before they had swam some really fast times,” Kirner said. “Come to find out, they were pretty rested and they had championship racing suits on.”

After racing hard at their meet the week before, Findlay was not able to keep up with Hillsdale on Saturday.

“We came to race. It’s really a mindset that we try to build into the athletes from very early in the season,” Kirner said. “No matter what the situation, our kids are just in that mentality the whole way through.”

The Chargers earned a close second place in the opening event, the 200 yard medley relay, with a time of 1:51.20. This was nearly two seconds faster than the A team’s time a week prior. The B and C teams came fourth and sixth with 1:51.71 and 2:00.65 respectively.

“I was pretty sure we weren’t going to win that first relay with how fast Findlay’s relay had gone before, but we were actually really close to winning it,” Kirner said. “I was very impressed with our A and B relays.”

Hillsdale came first, second, fifth, and seventh in the 1000 yard free. Freshman Elise Mason topped the event with a time of 10:51.69 which was 13 seconds faster than the second place finisher.

In the 200 yard freestyle, junior Leah Tunney just out-touched Findlay for first, finishing 1:57.03 and 1:57.08 respectively. Hillsdale went first, third, fourth, and sixth in the 200 yard I.M. with freshman Joanna Burnham in first (2:12.08), sophomore Cecilia Guadalupi in third (2:13.64), freshman Megan Clifford in fourth (2:15.68), and sophomore Amy Mills in sixth (2:19.10).

Junior Marie Taylor took home a solid win in the 100 yard freestyle with a 52.97, over a second and a half faster than the second place finisher. Guadalupi and sophomore Sarah Pataniczek went fifth (54.83) and sixth (57.06) and junior Anika Fassett came in tenth (58.06).

Tunney, Mason, and junior Sarah Clark came first, second, and fourth in the 500 yard freestyle with times of 5:14.54, 5:18.09, and 5:26.99 respectively.

The Chargers ended the meet with a commanding win in the 200 yard freestyle relay with a 1:39.34. Lewis came in second with a 1:46.17.

The team will depart from Hillsdale this Friday, Nov. 19 for an invitational meet at Davenport University lasting until Sunday, Nov. 21.

“Our team is looking good going into Davenport and I’m super excited to see what myself and everyone else can do with a little bit of rest behind us,” Senior Becca Briskey said.

Kirner said he’s looking forward to seeing his team race this weekend.

“It’s going to be a good challenge for us. The idea is to really work our race plan all the way through the race,” Kirner said.

The swimmers said they feel prepared for the invitational.

“It’s all about trusting your coaches,” Mason said. “He has a plan for how to taper and how he wants us to rest.”