Trinity University won its 14th consecutive SCAC Women's Swimming & Diving Championship after leading wire-to-wire this week. The Tigers beat out Colorado College by a score of 1,042.5-831.5 while Southwestern University rounded out the top three with a score of 677 points. Official Website | Saturday's Complete Results | Team Scores
Trinity first-year Dizon Hartman earned her first-career SCAC championship as she took home the title in the 1650 freestyle. She touched the wall in 18:15.09. Colorado College junior Emily Harrison clocked an 18:17.39 while finishing in second place. Harrison's teammate first-year Alma Jukic rounded out the top-three as she finished with a time of 18:25.61.
McMurry University's Robin Remschel earned the win in the 200 back as she tallied an NCAA "B" cut time of 2:03.80. Finishing second was Paige Johnson of Trinity who touched the wall in 2:06.11 while teammate Ashley Ward was third with a time of 2:08.23.
Lindsay Hagmann set the SCAC meet and open record in winning the 100 freestyle. She also posted an NCAA "B" cut time of 50.48. She broke her own meet record which she set at last season's conference championship. Hagmann, who also won races in the 50 free and the 100 breast, was named SCAC Women's Swimmer-of-the-Meet.
Finishing in second in the 100 free was Justina Zuckerman of Colorado College who touched the wall in 52.92. Rouding out the top-three was Hagmann's teammate, Abbie Jones. Jones posted a time of 53.49.
The 200 breaststroke saw Colorado College sophomore Kate Guynn take home the conference title as she swam a 2:30.35. She finished over three seconds ahead of Marissa Byrd of Southwestern University who clocked a 2:33.76. Centenary College's Jessica Jordan touched the wall in third with a time of 2:34.55.
Ellen Silk earned a SCAC championship by finishing the 200 butterfly in 2:08.22. Teammate Jio Chang was second with a time of 2:09.71. Rouding out the top-three was Taylor Adams of Southwestern who recorded a time of 2:15.11.
In the evening's final race, the Trinity women's 400 freestyle relay team of Star Rosale, Lauren Cuda, Jones, and Hagmann earned top billing as the quartet finished first with a time of 3:31.39. The group missed out on an NCAA "B" cut time by just 0.67 seconds. Colorado College's team of Chang, Sarah Dunbar, Jukic, and Zuckerman took second touching the wall in 3:35.50. Earning third place laurels was the Southwestern team of Sam Rao, Madison Doty, Erika Dubros, and Cara Chin clocked a time of 3:38.28.
Earlier in the day, Trinity junior Sarah Kate Mrkonich won her third consecutive 1-meter board title with a score of 431.55. She was elected as the SCAC Women's Diver of the Meet for the third straight year, after sweeping both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
In the closest finish in the history of the men's championship, Trinity University came all the way back from a near triple-digit deficit to win its fifth straight conference title at the 2017 SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships at the LISD Westside Aquatic Center. Official Website | Saturday's Complete Results | Team Scores
Trailing Southwestern University by 94.5 points after Thursday, Trinity fought back to cut the deficit to 20.5 points heading into the final day and then pulled out an 882.5 to 877 victory to take the closet men's race in the 19-year history of the event.
Trinity freshman Jacob Hurrell-Zitelman won all three of his individual races to earn SCAC Swimmer-of-the-Meet honors. Hurell-Zitelman got the Tigers' comeback efforts rolling with a huge swim in the 1650 freestyle. The freshman entered the championship having already set a new SCAC open record at the Trinity Invitational in November, and then established a SCAC meet record along with a NCAA 'B' cut time as he rocketed to a 15.54.58 finish. Hurrell-Zitelman posted earlier victories in the 500 freestyle and the 400 IM to become the only male swimmer at this year's championship to win three individual races.
Rounding out the top 10 in the event, freshman Michael Heinonen of Colorado College was second in a time of 16:40.79 and junior David Doyle of Trinity was third with a finishing time of 16:50.39.
Also helping in the Tiger's comeback was the team's two 3-meter divers. Led by SCAC Diver-of-the-Meet first-year Chad King, the Trinity men finished 1-2 on the 3-meter board. King took top honors on Saturday the high board - posting a winning score of 370.00. Sophomore Thomas Ritthaler finished second with a score of 244.95.
Southwestern went down swinging on Saturday as the Pirates had two swimmers defend their individual titles. Junior Mickey Scharbrough picked up a victory in the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:06.42 to become the first SCAC male swimmer to win the event three consecutive years. Teammate and fellow junior Matt Sluss won the 200 butterfly, also for the third consecutive year, with a NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:51.89. Sluss joins former Trinity swimmer Ryan Van Der Kar as the only SCAC men to win the event three straight years.
Colorado College finished third with a team score of 593. The Tigers got gold-medal winning performances from freshman Stefan Bay and senior Crane Sarris. Bay picked up a win in the 200 backstroke, posting a NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:50.91. Trinity junior Charles Clark also posted a NCAA 'B' cut time in finishing second with a time of 1:51.17
The following event, Sarris earned the Tigers' first win in the 100 free since former CC All-American Jordan DeGayner took the crown in back-to-back years in 2011 and 2012. Sarris touched first in a time of 46.42.
In the final event of the event, the Southwestern men kept the pressure on with a victory in the 400 free relay. The team of junior Michael Glover, senior Nathan Townsend, Sluss and senior Simmon Belaineh touched in a winning time of 3:05.96. Trinity, however, clinched the men's team title with a second-place finish as Clark, senior Isaac Johnson, freshman Eric Grace and sophomore Cole Rezsofi touched the wall at 3:07..23.
Rounding out the team scoring, Centenary College was fourth with 496.50 points, Austin College was fifth with 299 points, McMurry University finished sixth with 244 points and SCAC newcomer University of the Ozarks placed seventh with three points.
