Lake Forest Still in Second Place at MWC Championships

Photo by Kyra Vidas
Photo by Kyra Vidas

Sophomore diver Heath Ogawa set his second Midwest Conference record while winning the 1-meter competition on day two of the 2017 MWC Championships on Saturday. Both Forester teams remain in second place in the standings.

A day after breaking the conference record in the 3-meter competition, Ogawa tallied the highest 11-dive score in league history with 559.30 points off the 3-meter board. Forester junior Matthew Demirs was the runner-up in the event with 411.25 points.

Ogawa's first eight dives were performed in the afternoon and the final three during the evening finals session, which began with the 200-medley relay. Seniors Emily Bowens and Lauren Dalecky joined freshmen Hannah Stinson and Kelsey Mitchell on a runner-up finish in the women's race. Their time of 1:49.17 ranks third in team history. Seniors Virgil Thomas, Josh Georgeff, Sam Freedberg, and Orion Huey followed with a victory and a school record time of 1:34.10 in the men's race.

The close of the diving competition was next and while Ogawa and Demirs were finishing first and second on the men's side, freshmen Lizzie Johns and Victoria Miller were placing third and fourth in the women's 3-meter event. Johns finished with 342.45 points and Miller with 275.10.

Two more Forester freshmen, Rachel Trevillion and Ani Karagianis, were in the finals of the women's 400-IM and placed fifth and sixth, respectively. Trevillion completed the race in 4:45.86 and Karagianis in 4:50.04.

Stinson followed with a fifth-place finish and time of 1:00.62 in the women's 100-butterfly. The Lake Forest men posted their second 1-2 finish of the night in their race with Freedberg prevailing in 51.31 seconds with Huey just 0.05 seconds behind. Freedberg's time of 50.73 in the morning prelims ranks him second in program history in the event and Huey's 51.36 in the finals places him fourth in team annals.

Junior Lily McCarthy posted her second top-three finish of the weekend by placing third in Saturday's 200-freestyle. She completed the race in 1:58.17. Mitchell was eighth in the event in 2:00.53. Junior David Bunting was the runner-up in the men's race and his time of 1:43.26 ranks fourth in program history. Senior Travis Johnson was fourth in 1:44.60 and classmate Chris Martinez fifth in 1:46.31.

The first title claimed by the Forester women at the 2017 MWC Championships came in the 100-breaststroke where Dalecky tied her school record with a time of 1:06.53. Senior Ryan Keast placed third in the men's race in 58.94 seconds and Georgeff was eighth with a time of 1:00.91.

Bowens made it back-to-back first-place finishes for the Lake Forest women when she touched the wall first in the 100-backstroke. Her time of 58.20 seconds moved her up from fourth place to a tie for third in team history. While Thomas was unable to defend his title in the men's 100-backstroke, his runner-up time of 52.16 ranks him fourth in program history. Sophomore Frederick Weichmann was third in 53.68 seconds.

Saturday's finals session closed with the 800-freestyle relay and both Forester teams placed second. Thorsen, McCarthy, Mitchell, and Karagianis posted a time of 8:00.44 in the women's race. Thomas, Martinez, Johnson, and Bunting finished in 7:03.05, which ranks them fifth in team history.

With 672.5 points on the women's side and 636 on the men's, Grinnell continues to lead both team standings. The Forester women's total of 393 points is 14 more than third-place Lawrence University and more than 100 ahead of fourth-place Ripon College. With 543 points, the Lake Forest men have more than twice Lawrence's 236.5, which ranks third.

Sunday will be the final day of competition with the morning prelims beginning at 9:00 and the evening finals at 4:00.

Friday's Day 1 Recap | Sunday's Day 3 Recap