After an undefeated season, the Hillsdale College swim team is the G-MAC/MEC champion for the third year in a row. The Chargers finished the four day meet with a total score of 1631.5, 87 points ahead of their main rival, University of Findlay.
“Even though we’re undefeated, and we have beaten Findlay not just this year but the last few years, I knew it was going to be close,” Head Coach Kurt Kirner said. “They had nine freshmen, and when you bring new people in, they can get out there and they can swim really well. Our depth came through again.”
Hillsdale swimmers won 12 of the 18 events at the meet — nine individuals and three relays. Kirner said it was the most wins they have ever had at conference.
Three Chargers also won awards at the end of the meet. Sophomore Cecilia Gaudalupi received recognition for having the highest women’s GPA in the G-MAC. Elise Mason won freshman of the meet and Kirner won Coach of the Year for the fourth year in a row.
“Our kids are unbelievable ambassadors in terms of representing Hillsdale and I think a lot of my coach of the year has to do with the way they represent us,” Kirner said. “I’m blessed to be at Hillsdale College and get the type of athletes I work with. When you get old, you realize the award is just a representation of the team in general.”
Sophomore Caroline Holmes, freshman Emma Dickhudt, senior Anna Clark, and Guadalupi opened up the meet with a strong third place finish in the 200 yard medley relay at 1:48.57.
Mason was the conference champion in the 1000 yard freestyle with a time of 10:28.08, five seconds ahead of the second place finisher.
Hillsdale swimmers took second and third in the 200 yard individual medley. Guadalupi finished in 2:08.13 and freshman Joanna Burnham was a close third (2:08.41).
Junior Marie Taylor won the first sprint of the meet, the 50 yard freestyle, with a time of 23.87, which earned her a NCAA B cut time.
“It was just insane to see such a high level of performance out of everyone, not only on our team but on teams in general and how the other teams push us to be at our absolute best,” Taylor said.
The Chargers closed day one with a win in the 200 yard freestyle relay. Taylor, Golladay, junior Leah Tunney, and Gaudalupi earned the win with a time of 1:35.64.
On day two, Clifford topped the 100 yard butterfly event with a 57.16.
The 400 yard individual medley saw Burnham in first (4:34.70) and Mason in third (4:36.00).
Tunney took first in the 200 yard freestyle with a 1:54.14, just out-touching the second place finisher who swam a 1:54.15. Holmes finished third (1:54.40).
“That was a funny one because at our dual meet in November the exact same thing happened,” Holmes said. “At our dual meet, Leah out-touched the same Findlay swimmer by just a couple hundredths and I came in a couple hundredths behind her.”
Holmes said it was a fun but tense race.
“The 200 free is one of those events that’s physically very taxing. You’re going all out for as long as your anaerobic system can handle plus a little bit more,” Holmes said. “Neither of us were expected to win but the fact that Leah came out on top was really fun.”
Holmes, Dickhudt, Clifford, and Taylor took second place in the 400 yard medley relay with a time of 3:53.92, two seconds down from their seed time.
Holmes said day three was tough for many of the swimmers who were starting to get tired out. Last year, the conference meet only lasted 3 and a half days due to COVID-19 restrictions, and the extra half day made a world of difference.
“This week really proved to me the perseverance and tenacity and ferocity of our team, everybody was just super tough,” Holmes said. “It was a lot more mentally challenging of a meet than I remember from last year and I think a lot of people felt that way. But we were really able to just take it one day at a time and focus on the next objective, the next race, the next length, the next session.”
Mason agreed and said the team’s morale was important for her.
“Meets like this just bring everyone closer together,” Mason said. “It kind of takes the pressure off your own times and it’s more about what you can do for the team.”
The first final of day three saw Mason finish first in the 500 yard freestyle with a 5:01.19, which earned her a NCAA B cut.
Holmes came third in the 100 yard backstroke with a 58.09.
Clifford earned first place as well as a meet record in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 2:06.52.
To close out day three, the Chargers took another relay win in the 800 yard freestyle relay.
“This event, this relay, the scores were at razor thin margins,” Holmes said. “We were like, this is crucial, it is necessary that we win this relay to stay on top.”
Mason, Clifford, Tunney, and Holmes finished the event in 7:40.47, 13 seconds faster than Findlay in second place. Holmes said there was a moment she wasn’t sure they would take the top spot.
“I saw my team cheering on the sideline and I saw a girl swimming from Malone who was right next to me and I thought, have I been focusing on the wrong thing?” Holmes said. “So I went faster, but it turns out that was not the case. We had lapped her. But we ended up winning by a pretty good margin. I had never been on a relay that had won before so it was fun to get the dub on it.”
Going into the last day, the scores were tight.
“I told them, today we’re just going to have fun and just get out there. You want to put an exclamation point on this whole championship and our kids were really lively and excited and just very supportive of each other,” Kirner said. “That last day, I just knew that we had more. We had more people ready to swim.”
Taylor said she found Kirner’s attitude helpful, especially since the scores were so close.
“Our coach did a really good job of pushing that we’re not supposed to be stressed the entire time and no matter what happens, it doesn’t take away from the value of the performances,” Taylor said.
On the final day of the meet, Mason set a meet record and earned a NCAA B cut with her first place finish in the 1650 yard freestyle. She finished in 17:11.51, 33 seconds ahead of the second place finisher.
Taylor won the 100 yard freestyle with a 52.22, just out-touching Guadalupi in second (52.59).
Tunney and Holmes finished third and fourth in the 200 yard backstroke at 2:06.97 and 2:07.93, respectively.
To close out the conference meet, Guadalupi, Tunney, Clifford, and Taylor won the 400 yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:32.08.
“That was big for us to win three out of the five relays,” Kirner said. “We had the freestyle relays pretty well nailed down.”
Kirner said he was very proud of all the swims he saw last week.
“Everyone was a part of this and we can’t do it without all of them. Unfortunately we can only have 18 scoring members on the team but the ones that are not scoring still swim and their swims are still inspiring and mean as much to me and to the rest of the team as some of the big wins.”
Holmes said the win was very gratifying.
“I don’t think it’s a check the box moment,” Holmes said. “It was a fight, for us it was a fight the whole way. I don’t think it’s something to take for granted at all.”
Clark agreed and said the environment of the team was crucial for their performance.
“This year was 100% the team. It was really an all around team effort. Every girl on that deck gave everything,” Clark said.
Most of the Chargers are done competing until the next season starts up again in the fall. However, Clifford, Mason, and Taylor are waiting to find out if their NCAA B cut swims will qualify them for the NCAA DII championship meet that runs March 9 to 12. Clifford, if she qualifies, would swim the 200 yard butterfly. Mason hit the cut time in the 1650 yard freestyle, and Taylor earned it in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle races. They will find out Thursday whether they qualified.