Lake Forest in Second After Day Two of MWC Championships

Lake Forest in Second After Day Two of MWC Championships

Sophomore Susan Guo defended her title in the 100-butterfly and the Forester men and women finished the second of three days at Midwest Conference Championship Meet in second place.

Guo began Saturday's final session helping Lake Forest's 200-medley relay team post a runner-up finish in the race and the third-fastest time in program history at 1:49.12. Sophomore Fallon Longfield led off and was followed by freshman Sarah Burchart, Guo, and freshman Kerry Mullen. The Forester men were third in 1:36.40 with team made up of sophomore Evan Weller, freshman Sebastian Wagoner, sophomore Nathan Ulm, and senior Blake Rhodes.

The final three rounds of the women's 3-meter and men's 1-meter diving events were next. The Foresters' four female divers placed in the top eight and were led by a third-place finish and score of 382.30 from junior Lizzie Johns. Fellow junior Victoria Miller was fifth with 348.75 points while freshmen Missy Bryan (336.40) and McKinley Scheppler (327.15) placed sixth and eighth, respectively. Meanwhile, senior Heath Ogawa finished off his third consecutive sweep of the diving events at the conference meet with a winning score of 499.05 in Saturday's 1-meter competition. His margin of victory in the two diving events this weekend combined was more than 300 points.

Lake Forest had the runner-up and fourth-place finisher in the women's 400-IM. Junior Rachel Trevillian's time of 4:41.67 was faster than all but one competitor and classmate Ani Karagianis completed the race in 3:53.33. Sophomore Max Rowland turned in his second victory of the weekend in the men's race and his time of 4:07.43 ranks him third in school history in that event. Freshman Alec Pittman was second in the race and now ranks fifth in team annals with a time of 4:09.64 and Weller's 4:16.83 was good for fourth place.

Guo's second 100-butterly title in as many seasons did not come easy, as her time of 58.24 was just .06 seconds ahead of second place. Mullen finished fifth in 1:01.74 and junior Hannah Stinson was sixth with a time of 1:02.26. Sophomore Thomas Anderson was sixth (52.25), Ulm seventh (52.62), and Rhodes eighth (53.20) in the men's race.

Junior Kelsey Mitchell was the Foresters' top finisher in the women's 200-freestyle, which she completed in 2:00.75 and placed fifth. Freshman Kylie Morgan was seventh in 2:01.43. Freshman Graeme Witte was third on the men's side with a time of 1:44.79 while Wagoner was eighth in 1:46.84.

Lake Forest had just one woman and one man in the 100-breaststroke, where Borchart placed eighth in 1:12.15 and sophomore Ryan Casseday fifth in 1:00.44.

Longfield was less than a half-second away from her first career conference title in the 100-backstroke but settled for second place. Her time of 59.05 seconds ranks her fifth in team history. Sophomore Sarah Truxton was sixth in the same race in 1:02.88. Senior Frederick Weichmann was the only Forester male in the A-final, placing sixth in 53.28 seconds.

The Forester women were disqualified in the 800-freestyle relay due to an early takeoff and the men finished off Saturday's competition with a runner-up finish and the fourth-fastest time in school history. Witte, freshman Aaron Helms, Rowland, and Pittman completed the race in 7:02.82.

The Grinnell men and women lead in the team standings with one day remaining at the meet. The Foresters' 494 points on the men's side trail the Pioneers by 88 while the 467 earned by the Lake Forest women are 233 shy of the host school's total. The Lawrence University women are just 41 points behind the Foresters while third place in the men's team standings is owned by Monmouth College with just 259 points.

Sunday morning's prelims begin at 9:00 and the fastest heats of the 1650-freestyle will kick off the finals at 4:00 p.m.

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