Charger swim dominated its three dual meets at Bethel University Oct. 14 against Bethel, Ohio Northern University, and Aquinas College, with first place wins in nine of the 14 swimming events.
“We had surprisingly good competition from some of the better Bethel swimmers,” head coach Kurt Kirner said. “We had a real team effort with many of our athletes supporting the cause.”
Junior Megan Clifford earned G-MAC athlete of the week for her four first place wins at the meet in the 100 and 200 yard butterfly, the 100 yard freestyle, and the 200 yard freestyle relay which she swam the last leg of. Her fellow All American Elise Mason swept the distance events, placing first in the 1650 and 500 yard freestyle.
“Both Megan and Elise were ahead of last year’s times when they qualified for the NCAA Championship meet later in the season,” Kirner said.
Kirner said he was impressed with the freshmen’s performance at their first collegiate meet.
“We have much more depth in our freshmen class than I originally anticipated,” he said. “They have taken well to both our training and drills which were showcased in their skills at the Bethel quad meet.”
Freshmen Izzy Ondracek, Alyson Early, Irene Del Castro, Inez Mc Nichols, Callie Lucero, and junior transfer Lucia Richti all placed first, second, or third in all their events.
“Our freshmen had a great debut,” senior and captain Caroline Holmes said. “I was really proud of how our team was able to push through a tough week of training and put together good races at the meet.”
Holmes herself won the 200 backstroke and led off the winning 200 free relay. In the 100 back, she had a close second place finish with a time of 1:00.26 which she said she was happy with.
“I think I’m faster at this point in the season than I was last year, which is always the goal,” she said.
Kirner said that has been the general trend for the team.
“We are ahead of where we were last season however we need to keep the training level high and the competitiveness challenging as we go through a grueling part of the season early on,” he said. “I feel we are up to the challenge as the practice attitude has been good and injuries minimal.”
Ondracek said the same.
“As a team, we all were very positive and successful in our placements and attitudes,” she said. “I think we are all looking strong, and when we get to more competitive meets, in conference meets, we will be able to showcase our talent and rise to the occasion even more.”
The team will compete next on Saturday, Oct. 28 at home. It’s the only home meet of the season as well as the team’s senior night.
“This meet allows us to swim our ‘bread and butter’ events — races that play to our strengths and provide us with a better gauge as to how we are stacking up in the conference,” Kirner said. “We invite everyone to come and watch the Chargers light up the pool and maybe even score a pool record or two.”