Swimcloud

Minnesota Challenge - Day 2

The Fighting Illini swimmers and divers collected seven top-five finishes and 17 personal bests as they concluded action at the Minnesota Challenge Saturday night.

"I thought as a team, they raced hard and tough," Illini head coach Sue Novitsky said. "We had some younger swimmers taking steps in the right direction. It was also good to have a couple of our seniors finish strong. It’s good to see them stepping up, competing and representing the Illini. Seeing these girls step up and swim hard while enjoying the process was great."

Sophomores Anne Goering and Emily Wilkinson led the Illini, posting fourth- and eighth-place finishes. Goering placed fourth in the 100 free (53.28) and eighth in the 50 free (24.62), while Wilkinson earned fourth in the 200 fly (2:10.89) and eighth with a personal-best 2:10.20 in the 200 IM.

Freshman Callan McDermott claimed a fourth-place finish as well, swimming a 2:07.30 in the 200 back. The newcomer also placed 10th in the 100 back with a 1:00.24 and swam a 2:11.14 in the 200 IM, posting personal bests in each of those events.

An additional pair of Illini freshmen concluded the meet with two top-10 finishes apiece, including Kathleen Roeing with a seventh-place and personal-best finish in the 100 back (59.58) and another personal-best and eighth-place swim in the 200 back (2:08.39). Meanwhile, classmate Sabrinne Gibson earned sixth in the 100 back with a personal-best 59.49 and ninth in the 200 back (2:08.92). Gibson also claimed personal bests in the 50 free (24.81) and 100 free (54.67).

Several other Illini posted personal bests on the night, including freshman Andrea DeAngelis in the 100 breast (1:09.96) and 200 breast (2:30.79), Goering in the 100 back (1:02.14), Roeing in the 200 IM (2:12.11), and Gibson in the 50 free (24.81) and 100 free (54.67).

In the 400 free relay, the team of seniors Caitlin Conroy and Michelle Mehnert, Georing and Gibson finished second with a time of 3:37.40, while the 200 medley and 400 medley teams each claimed fifth.

On the boards, juniors Tessa Adams and Keri Eberhardt led the Illini with fourth-place finishes in the one-meter dive (personal-best 278.40) and the three-meter dive (265.10), respectively. Senior Britni Fisher posted fifth-place finishes in the one- (277.80) and three-meter (248.15) events.

The divers collected a total of nine top-10 finishes on the weekend, including two apiece from Adams, Eberhardt, Fisher and junior Darragh McDermott. The Illini also earned personal-best dives from Adams on her one-meter dive and freshmen Erika Murphy (one-meter, 253.00) and Emily Fung (one-meter, 190.85; three-meter, 192.50).

The Orange and Blue will return to action at the Big Ten Championships, Feb. 15-18 in Bloomington, Ind.




The Carleton College men’s swimming and diving team took part in the two-day Minnesota Challenge meet held at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center. This competition concludes the regular season for the Knights and features NCAA Division I, II and III teams from across the Upper Midwest.

This meet provides those team members not on the MIAC Championship squad to taper and compete at one of the top facilities in the nation.

"The results for the taper group were exactly what you hope for from both a coaching and swimmer perspective," said Carleton head coach Andy Clark. "They all had season- or lifetime-best swims in all of their individual events, a feat that is not always easy to achieve especially when expectations are high.

"The tapered team members, though, did not disappoint and they delivered a clear and powerful message to the rest of the team in that there is much to look forward to—in terms of best times—as the squad heads into the final week-plus of preparation for the MIAC Championship meet. This is exactly the kind of momentum we were hoping to have, and I am looking forward to seeing what both teams can achieve at the championships."

There were many highlights among the taper group on day two.

Steven Moran (Jr./Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights), Alex Simonides (So./Palo Alto, Calif./Los Altos) and Jeffrey Domingues (Fy./Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) each posted season-best times in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing at 54.00, 54.20 and 56.21, respectively. Ben Strasser (Jr./Avondale Estates, Ga./Paideia) recorded his top times this season in the 100- (56.08) and 200-yard butterfly (2:07.55) Michael Domingues (Jr./Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) added a season-best in the 200-yard breaststroke, as did Andrew Cely (Fy./Plano, Texas/Plano) in the 400-yard individual medley (4:43.48).

The balance of the squad, though non-rested, still turned in numerous season-best performances.

Andy Hardt (Jr./Mount Kisco, N.Y./American School in London) was the Knights’ top finisher in the 400-yard individual medley, cutting more nearly 10 seconds off his seed time. He was third among Division III racers and 16th overall at 4:26.00. He also cut nearly five seconds off his 200 butterfly time (2:05.45) and trimmed more than a minute off his previous best in the 1,650-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 17:44.54, right behind Jaymes Awbrey (Jr./Farmington, Minn./Farmington Senior) who dropped 47 seconds and was Carleton’s top finisher in the event at 17:44.13.

Tom Holmes (Jr./Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington) was Carleton’s top finisher in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. He tied for 18th with a season-best time of 55.43 in the shorter race and came back at night to swim the longer distance in 2:04.39, just ahead of Christian Edwards (So./Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School), who sliced exactly five seconds off his seed time.

Jesse Gourevitch (So./Ardsley, N.Y./Ardsley) led the Knights and posted a season-best time of 1:01.70 in the 100-yard breaststroke as he finished 16th. During the evening session he placed 15th in the 200 breaststroke with a season-best time of 2:16.98.

Benito Ramirez (So./Saint Louis Park, Minn./Minneapolis South) was third among Division III racers in the 200-yard butterfly, posting a season-best time of 2:00.46.

Erik Klontz (Jr./Bethesda, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) was bested only by Division I racers as he took eighth place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.02. He was also the Knights’ top finisher in the 100-yard butterfly, touching the wall at 52.98 good for ninth place. Additionally, he split a 19.90 in his freestyle leg on the 200-yard medley relay, the fastest split in the history of Carleton Men's Swimming.

The Knight divers will participate in the Northfield Invite on Tuesday, Feb. 7. The rest of the team will spend the next two weeks getting prepared for the MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held at the U of M Aquatics Center from February 16-18.




The Carleton College women’s swimming and diving team concluded competition at the two-day Minnesota Challenge meet held at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center. This competition concludes the regular season for the Knights and features NCAA Division I, II and III teams from across the Upper Midwest.

This meet also provides those team members not on the MIAC Championship squad to taper and compete at one of the top facilities in the nation. The non-rested portion of the team participated in its final races before the upcoming conference championships.

"The results for the taper group were exactly what you hope for from both a coaching and swimmer perspective," said Carleton head coach Andy Clark. "They all had season- or lifetime-best swims in all of their individual events, a feat that is not always easy to achieve especially when expectations are high.

"The tapered team members, though, did not disappoint and they delivered a clear and powerful message to the rest of the team in that there is much to look forward to—in terms of best times—as the squad heads into the final week-plus of preparation for the MIAC Championship meet. This is exactly the kind of momentum we were hoping to have, and I am looking forward to seeing what both teams can achieve at the championships."

Among the taper group, several performances stood out on day two. Emily Houlihan (Fy./Boulder, Colo./Boulder) and Ashley Paquin (Jr./Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) posted season-best times of 1:01.36 and 1:05.46 respectively in the 100-yard freestyle. In the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, Clara Labadie (Sr./Washington, D.C./Lawrenceville School) recorded season-best times (1:08.32 and 2:28.80 respectively) in both races, while Molly Bostrom (So./Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) notched her best time of the year (1:22.58) at the shorter distance, and Alison Byrnes (So./Olympia, Wash./Olympia) did likewise (2:50.28) at the longer distance.

Not to be out-done, the non-rested group had its share of highlight performances.

Alison Coogan (Fy./River Forest, Ill./Oak Park & River Forest) turned in lifetime-best performances in the 400-yard individual medley, and 100- and 200-yard backstroke. She was the second Division III finisher in the 100 backstroke, recording a time of 1:01.04 to place 17th.

Annie Metcalf (Sr./Bath, Maine/Morse) recorded season-best times in the 400 IM and 200-yard backstroke. In the latter event she was the top Division III swimmer, touching the wall at 2:08.07.

Hannah Heavenrich (Sr./Berkley, Mich./Berkley) turned in lifetime bests in both the 200- and 1,650-yard freestyle.

Erin McDuffie (Jr./Anchorage, Alaska/Service) was the top Division III swimmer in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle. She posted a season-best time of 53.40 at the shorter distance and a lifetime best of 1:57.87, a drop of more than three seconds, as she finished 12th overall in the longer race.

Molly Spence (Jr./Tacoma, Wash./Woodrow Wilson) took more than 45 seconds off her seed time in the 1,650 freestyle, finishing 10th at 18:14.57.

Mallory Pernell (Sr./Austin, Texas/Westlake) was Carleton’s top finisher in the 200-yard butterfly. She shaved more than five seconds off her previous season-best time, reaching the wall at 2:24.67.

Carleton concluded the meet by being the top Division III performer in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Milana Socha (So./Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton), Sophie Pilhofer (Jr./Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Visitation), Maggie Alexander (Sr./Tigard, Ore./Tualatin) and McDuffie posted a time of 3:39.83, good for fourth place.

The Knight divers will participate in the Northfield Invite on Tuesday, Feb. 7. The rest of the team will spend the next two weeks getting prepared for the MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held at the U of M Aquatics Center from February 16-18.

Comments