Charger swimmers made winning look easy at this past weekend’s meet against Albion College, finishing a hefty 45 points ahead of the Britons at 136-91.

To open the meet, the Chargers had a 1-2 finish in the 400 yard medley relay. The winning relay, composed of seniors Leah Tunney and Anika Fassett and sophomores Joanna Burnham and Lilly Golladay, finished in 4:10.80. The other Charger team swam a 4:19.09 thanks to seniors Sydney Slepian and Hannah Douthitt, junior Phoebe Johnston, and sophomore Emma Dickhudt.

“Everyone loves swimming relays,” head coach Kurt Kirner said. “We always have pretty decent depth and work for winning both if not one of the relays. On Saturday, relays showed our depth by their awesome performances.”

The 1000 yard freestyle saw two more Charger swimmers in first and second place. Senior Sarah Clark came first with a time of 11:18.67 and junior Sarah Pataniczek followed her in second (11:21.92).

The top scorer at the meet was sophomore Megan Clifford who earned G-MAC Women’s Swimming Athlete of the Week for her performance. She finished at the top of every event she swam and broke Albion’s pool record for the 200 yard butterfly. It’s her second pool record of the season after she broke Hillsdale’s in the 100 yard butterfly a few weeks ago.

In the 200 yard freestyle, Clifford won with a 1:58.41. Junior Caroline Holmes said it was the most exciting swim she watched at the meet.

“Megan raced against one of Albion’s fastest swimmers. They were about even at the 100, but then Megan picked up speed throughout the last 100 and drove to the finish in first place,” Holmes said. “It was a super tight race, and everyone on deck and in the stands was screaming. A memorable moment for sure.”

Sophomores Elise Mason (2:02.16) and Emma Dickhudt (2:08.76) came after Clifford in third and fourth, respectively.

Clifford won the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 2:07.81, nine seconds ahead of second place finisher and teammate sophomore Joanna Burnham (2:16.84).

“It was super exciting to break that record,” Clifford said. “The past record was a 2:08.3, so I knew I had a chance to break it, and it was very exciting when I saw that I did. The 200 fly is my favorite event so I was really excited to be able to swim it for the first time this season.”

Hillsdale swimmers finished second, third, and fourth in two events. In the 200 yard individual medley, Holmes took second with a 2:17.38, closely followed by Tunney (2:18.03), and senior Amy Mills (2:23.84). In the 100 yard freestyle, senior Marie Taylor came second (56.93), Golladay third (57.15), and Pataniczek fourth (57.56).

The 200 yard backstroke saw another Charger win with Holmes in first at 2:12 flat. Tunney was right behind her with a 2:12.72 and Slepian soon followed (2:20.40). Holmes said she enjoys racing teammates like Tunney.

“I always love swimming with Leah — she is someone who I’ve looked up to throughout my entire time at Hillsdale,” Holmes said. “I admire how she combines her focused determination for each race with a fun and playful spirit – she’s such an inspiration to our team, and it’s an honor to train with her every day. Also, it’s always nice to go 1-2 and earn some points for the Chargers.”

Mason won the 500 yard freestyle by a wide margin – she finished in 5:21.74 and the second place finisher swam a 5:36.27, more than 14 seconds behind. Mills came third in the same event (5:36.78).

G-MAC player of the week Clifford anchored the 400 yard freestyle relay to close out the meet, with Taylor, Holmes, and Mason setting up for the team to finish in 3:41.52. Hillsdale’s B relay team of Fassett, Pataniczek, Clark, and Slepian finished third in 3:56.12.

“Relays are always the best part of the meet, getting to race with my teammates and get the job done together is super exciting,” Clifford said. “This relay was super hype because we really wanted to win, and luckily we were able to do it.”

The team gets a weekend off from racing to prepare to face off with its rival University of Findlay.

“Findlay is a challenge. They have 15 plus new freshmen on their women’s roster alone,” Kirner said. “We will be ready to do battle, let’s just keep it at that. Hopefully we can be healthy and at full strength by then.”

The Chargers wiped the floor with the Oilers last year, nearly doubling their score at  144-77. They will also race Lewis University, whom they beat by an even larger margin last year (159-46).