The Forester swimming & diving teams are competing at the Midwest Conference Championship Meet at Grinnell College this weekend. Lake Forest's women lead and the men are third after day one of three. Sophomores Becky Shaak and Kelsey Hoeper both defended one of their conference titles.
Shaak's time of 5:02.80 in the 500-freestyle was slightly better than the MWC record mark of 5:03.55 she posted last year and a B-Cut qualifying time for the NCAA Division III National Championship Meet. Hoeper won the 50-freestyle for the second year in a row and her time of 24.67 seconds was just three one-hundredths of a second off the school record she set in 2009-10.
While they finished third in the 200-freestyle relay (1:26.73) and second in the 400-medley relay (3:29.83), the Forester men set program records in both events. Freshman Garr Punnet led off the 200-free relay and was followed by classmate Zach Wenner, sophomore Diego Ledesma, and senior Mike Mackin. Mackin took care of the backstroke portion of the 400-medley relay, sophomore Alex Marks the breaststroke, Punnett the Butterfly, and Wenner the freestyle.
Junior Emily Watts, freshman Loren Dutca, sophomore Amber Kerrigan, and Hoeper were the runners-up in the women's 200-freestyle relay, the first event of Friday's finals. Their time of 1:39.77 was just .53 seconds off the school record.
In addition to Shaak winning the 500-freestyle, junior Amy Finn placed third (5:17.36), freshman Jill Pastick fourth (5:20.11), and Dutca fifth (5:22.65). Dutca (5:16.20) and Pastick (5:18.38) had faster times in the morning's prelims. Marks finished third in the men's 500-free with a time of 4:52.36 while fellow sophomores Chris Wiatr and J.J. Conoscenti were fifth (4:54.28) and sixth (4:56.35), respectively. All three swam times within 0.2 seconds of their prelim performances.
Freshmen Angelica Compton and Sabrina Letwin each completed the 200-IM in 2:16.95. Compton accomplished the feat in the final and placed fourth. Letwin did it in the morning prelim and came back with a fifth-place time of 2:19.30 in the evening. Freshman John Vatkevich posted a third-place finish in the men's 200-IM with a time of 2:00.35.
Closely following Hoeper in the 50-freestyle were Watts and Kerrigan, who finished third and fourth with times of 24.87 and 25.35, respectively. Watts swam a 24.72 in the prelims. Punnett was the only Forester male in the 50-freestyle final. He placed seventh in 22.12 seconds, one-tenth of a second off his time in the morning.
Dutca, Shaak, Pastick, and Hoeper were the runners-up in the 400-medley relay with a time of 4:04.09.
The women's 1-meter and men's 3-meter diving competition occurred between the prelims and finals. Sophomore Samantha Gardner was the Foresters' top female finisher in thrid place with an 11-dive score of 421.60. While it does not assure her of selection, the score is above the NCAA Championships qualification mark of 395 points. Classmate Chandler Foster was fifth (374.95), freshman Gwen Grimes sixth (349.10), and sophomore Alyx Smagacz seventh (336.45). Freshman Matt Perry was the runner-up on the men's side with 401.20 points.
Lake Forest's women accumulated 290 points on the day, 36 more than 12-time defending champion Grinnell. The Pioneers lead the men's standings with 209 points. Lawrence is second with 181 and the Foresters third with 176.
The competition will continue tomorrow and conclude on Sunday.
Friday's Day 1 Recap | Saturday's Day 2 Recap | Sunday's Day 3 Recap
