Sophomore Nathan Ulm posted narrow victories in back-to-back events to help lead the Lake Forest College men's swimming and diving team to a first-place finish at Saturday's Monmouth Invite. The Forester women were second at the four-team event.
Ulm touched the wall first in the 50-freestyle and his time of 22.91 was .07 seconds ahead of Forester freshman Graeme Witte. The next event was the 100-butterfly and, after junior Rachel Trevillian took the women's race in 1:03.07, Ulm posted a victorious a time of 55.16 to edge out the runner-up by .38 seconds.
Ulm's triumphs came in a five-event winning streak for Lake Forest with freshman Kerry Mullen starting and finishing the run. Her time of 26.29 in the 50-freestyle was good for first place by just .08 seconds and she prevailed in the 100-freestyle in 56.82 seconds.
The Foresters' first victory of the day actually came from sophomore Susan Guo in the 200-freestyle. Guo, who out-touched the runner-up from Grinnell College by .15 seconds, later posted a second-place finish in the 100-butterfly, an event Trevillian won by just .11 seconds. Trevillian joined Ulm and Mullen as double event-winners, adding a victory and time of 2:20.80 in the 200-IM.
The final two triumphs of the day for Lake Forest came in the form of a sweep in the 500-freestyle. Junior Ani Karagianis took the women's race in 5:43.59 and freshman Alec Pittman win the men's in 4:57.21.
Five of the Foresters' nine victories were by no more than .15 seconds. The narrow wins were especially important as the Lake Forest men earned 126 points at the meet to edge out Grinnell College by just two. Monmouth College (90) was third and Illinois College (56) fourth. The women's standings were also close with Grinnell finishing with 136 points and the Foresters 133. Monmouth (69) was once again third and Illinois College (63) fourth.
After taking on three fellow Midwest Conference members this week, the Foresters will travel to another next Saturday for Lawrence University's Gene Davis Invitational at 10:00 a.m.
