The Lake Forest College swimming & diving teams are competing at the Midwest Conference Championships at Grinnell College this weekend. The Forester women are in first place and the men rank second after the first of three days of competition.
Friday's finals session began with Lake Forest sweeping the 200-freestyle relay in record-setting fashion. Freshman Alexandra Dunn (pictured, upper-left), junior Loren Dutca, sophomore Kelsie Miller, and senior Meghan Mason finished in 1:38.56, establishing a new school, conference, and pool record.
Freshman Jared Tennison, sophomore Kevin Barbrick, junior Garr Punnett (pictured, upper-right), and senior Diego Ledesma also posted a school and pool record in the men's 200-free relay and their time of 1:24.90 is just four-hundredths of a second off the best time in league history.
The final three dives in the women's 1-meter and men's 3-meter diving were next and the Forester women took the top three spots off the lower board. Sophomore Christina Pekar's (pictured, bottom-right) winning score of 455.90 edged out senior Sam Gardner, the defending champion in the event, by just 0.15 points. Sophomore Sarah Pekar was third with 428.20 points and all three divers qualified for the NCAA Regional Diving Meet March 1-2.
On the men's side, junior Matt Perry placed third with a career-high 432.00 points.
Senior Becky Shaak (pictured, bottom-left) turned in Lake Forest's top performance on the day, winning the 500-frestyle with a school, conference, and pool record time of 4:57.81, more than 10 seconds ahead of the runner-up. That mark will also likely send her to the NCAA Division III Championship Meet for the fourth straight season. The B-cut qualifying time is nearly two seconds faster than the slowest time to qualify for the 2012 National Championships. Dutca placed third in the event in 5:14.69 and senior Jenny Steege was sixth in 5:20.82.
Junior Zach Wenner was not quite able to make it a Lake Forest sweep in the 500-free but his runner-up time of 4:44.88 ranks him second in program history. Sophomore Mitchell Reiner finished fifth and moved up a spot to fourth in team annals with a time of 4:48.39. Freshman Armel Cazedepats placed seventh in 4:49.77.
The Forester women's streak of victories came to an end in the 200-individual medley but they still had two of the top five in the event. Freshman Brooke Rowley was fourth and her fastest time of the day (2:14.40) came in the prelims. Junior Sarah Stoklosa was fifth in 2:16.12.
Punnett successfully defended his title in the men's 200-IM and his career-best time of 1:54.47 is a new pool record. He still ranks second in team history, 0.41 seconds off the record. Freshman Emile Siroit's fourth-place time of 1:57.80 ranks him fifth in program history and senior Alex Marks finished seventh in 1:58.65.
Dunn's school and pool record 50-freestyle time of 24.06 seconds in the morning prelims also broke a 14-year-old conference record. She claimed the championship in the finals with a time of 24.20, nearly three-fourths of a second ahead of the runner-up. Senior Kelsey Hoeper was fifth in 25.55 seconds and Mason tied for sixth with a time of 25.61 seconds (25.53 in prelims).
Barbrick was the third-fastest man in the conference with a 50-free time of 21.54 seconds, which also ranks him third in program history. Tennison was sixth in 21.92 seconds (21.82 in prelims) and senior Diego Ledemsa finished eighth in 22.11 seconds.
Friday's final event was the 400-medley relay and the Lake Forest women continued their record-setting day. Miller, Shaak, Rowley, and Dunn prevailed with a school, conference, and pool record time of 3:56.26, more than three seconds faster than the previous mark set by the Foresters last season. Miller's 100-backstroke leadoff time of 58.35 seconds was an NCAA B-cut and a career-best, although she still ranks second in team history in the event.
Punnett, Marks, Barbrick, and Wenner also broke the school record in the 400-medley relay by more than three seconds and their time of 3:26.11 would also have been a new conference record had Grinnell not won the race. Punnett's leadoff split of 51.50 second in the 100-backstroke is a new school record and an NCAA B-cut.
The Forester women, who are looking to defend their conference title, finished day one with 288.5 points, 25.5 more than Grinnell. The Pioneers' 277 points on the men's side lead Lake Forest by 51.
Saturday's prelims will begin at 10:00 a.m. and the evening finals will start at 5:30.
