The Midwest Conference released its 2022 Women's Swimming and Diving Coaches Poll on Thursday, and Lake Forest College is in second place in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWC head women's swimming and diving coaches. Each coach votes for the other eight schools in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (eight points for first, seven for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
Lake Forest garnered two first place votes. Seven coaches in the league put Grinnell College atop the ballot, and the Pioneers' 63 points were seven more than the Foresters' total.
The Foresters placed second in the conference last year and won the title in 2020. There was no conference championship meet for the 2021-22 season.
Returning for her senior year is Violet Anderson, the current school record-holder in the 100- and 200-butterfly. Anderson won both butterfly events along with the 200 IM and was part of the winning 200-freestyle relay at the last conference meet. She's joined by fellow senior Helena Blumenau, who topped the podium in the 200-backstroke. Blumenau was also on the winning 800-freestyle relay with Capri Kalvelage and Ally McCarthy, who return for their sophomore and junior seasons, respectively. McCarthy is the reigning conference champion in the 200-freestyle. Anderson and Blumenau were both on the school-record breaking 200 medley relay as well.
The Foresters open their season at home against Carthage College on Saturday, October 29 The 2022 conference championship meet will take place from Friday, February 17 to Sunday, February 19.
Coach Vadim Tashlitsky returns for his 15th season as head coach of the Foresters. Under the direction of Tashlitsky, the Foresters have won the conference title in 2012 and 2020. He has been named Women's Coach of the Year six times (2010-13, 2020, 2022).
Combined with the men's team, Tashlitsky's athletes have now finished first at the conference meet 173 times and claimed 14 MWC Swimmer/Diver of the Year awards. Forester swimmers and divers have turned in 19 All-American (top 8 at national meet) or Honorable Mention All-American (top 16) performances in Tashlitsky's 12 seasons. The most recent honoree is Heath Ogawa, the back-to-back Division III Men's Diver of the Year who was the national champion in 3-meter diving in 2018 and in the 1-meter competition in 2019. After establishing two new team records in 2021-22, Tashlitsky's athletes have broken school records 108 times and set new league marks 51 times during his first 14 years as head coach.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Grinnell Colllege (7) | 63 |
| 2 | Lake Forest College (2) | 56 |
| 3 | St. Norbert College | 50 |
| 4 | Lawrence University | 44 |
| 5 | Ripon College | 31 |
| 6 | Monmouth College | 27 |
| 7 | Illinois College | 24 |
| 8 | Beloit College | 21 |
| 9 | Knox College | 8 |
Complete Midwest Conference Release
