The Hillsdale College Chargers lost to the Davenport University Panthers in their season opener on Oct. 5.
The Panthers’ final score of 165.5 to the Chargers’ 133.5 was mostly due to the fact that Davenport scored points in diving events while the Chargers have no divers on their team.
The meet featured several strong performances from the debuting freshmen, especially Leah Tunney and Marie Taylor.
Taylor won the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle with times of 25.06 and 55.34, respectively. She was also a member of the winning 200 freestyle relay. Tunney won both the 100 backstroke and 500 freestyle with respective times of 58.84 and 5:12.53 and placed second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:13.78.
Tunney said her first meet went better than she anticipated and was glad to see the results follow her effort.
“Everyone came into the meet with the mentality that as long as we try our best we’re gonna do fine,” Tunney said. “Everyone today tried their best and the times followed.”
The Chargers also went 1-2 in the 100 butterfly as senior Catherine Voisin finished first in 1:00.76, with freshman Anika Fassett close behind 1:01.59.
Junior Katherine Heeres also snagged a first-place finish for Hillsdale in the 200 freestyle. She finished in 1:58.95. She took second in the 200 backstroke in 2:11.03.
The Chargers’ top performances were matched by strong performances from the Panthers, who took first in seven of the 14 swimming events. Between this and the Panthers’ points in the diving events, the Chargers couldn’t secure a win.
“We had a lot of kids who did a great job and put in the effort we expected,” Kirner said. “But there are a lot of little things we need to clean up.”
