The Forester men's and women's swimming & diving teams defeated Carroll University and host Lawrence University in a double-dual meet on Saturday. Lake Forest junior diver Samantha Gardner recorded an NCAA national meet qualifying score of 275.80 points in the 3-meter competition.
Gardner's victory off the higher board was one of 18 first-place finishes by the Foresters in 26 events. Lake Forest's women outscored Lawrence 84-27 and the Pioneers 80-30. The Forester men won 85-18 over the Vikings and 78-33 against Carroll.
Sophomores Garr Punnett and Zach Wenner and freshman Kevin Barbrick were victorious three times on the day. Punnett and Barbrick made up the first two legs of Lake Forest's winning 200-medley relay team that finished in 1:43.09 and they each swam on the 200-freestyle relay that closed out the meet with a triumphant time of 1:30.74. Punnett also won the 200-IM in 2:03.44 and Barbrick prevailed in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 1:02.58. Wenner touched the wall first in the 50-freestyle (23.03) and 100-freestyle (49.27) before joining the 200-freestyle relay.
Junior Diego Ledesma participated on both of the winning relay teams and sophomore David Albion was part of the Foresters' 200-medley foursome.
Junior Kelsey Hoeper and freshman Mitchell Reiner joined Wenner as the only members of the team to win a pair of individual events. Hoeper finished first in the 50-freestyle in 26.55 seconds and in the 100-backstroke in 1:03.50. Reiner won the 200-freestyle in 1:53.57 and the 500-freestyle in 5:02.50.
Junior Becky Shaak recorded the Forester women's team's first win of the day in the 1000-freestyle in 10:48.39, the best time in the Midwest Conference this season. Freshman Mark Wilcoxen gave Lake Forest a sweep in the event with his time of 10:29.80 in the men's race.
Lake Forest also swept the 1-meter diving competition with freshman Sarah Pekar winning with 231.90 points and junior Matt Perry prevailing on the men's side with 249.83.
Sophomore Jill Pastick out-swam the field in the 100-butterfly (1:05.57) and classmate Loren Dutca did the same in the 500-freestyle (5:20.05).
The Forester women closed out their day with a victory by freshman Kelsie Miller, Pastick, Shaak, and Dutca in the 200-freestyle relay (1:46.58).
Lake Forest will close out the regular season with a dual meet next Saturday against Illinois Institute of Technology. The event will begin at 11:00 a.m. and will be a final tune-up before the Midwest Conference Championships at Lawrence University February 17-19.
