The Midwest Conference released its 2022 Men'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 men'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.
Eight coaches in the league put Grinnell College atop the ballot with one coach voting for St. Norbert College. The Pioneers' 64 points were nine more than the Foresters' total and 12 more than the Green Knights, who are ranked third.
Lake Forest finished second at the Midwest Conference Championship Meet in February 2022 and 2020. Due to COVID-19, there was no swimming and diving season in 2020-21.
Returning for his junior year is Ollie Land, who was part of the conference title-winning 800-freestyle relay along with three now-graduated seniors. Land also finished third in the 200-medley relay, 200-freestyle, and 400-freestyle relay; ninth in the 200-IM; and 10th in the 100-freestyle.
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 2014 and 2015. He has been named Men's Coach of the Year twice (2010, 2015).
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) | 64 |
| 2 | Lake Forest College | 55 |
| 3 | St. Norber College (1) | 52 |
| 4 | Lawrence University | 40 |
| 5 | Ripon College | 36 |
| T6 | Illinois College | 24 |
| T6 | Beloit College | 24 |
| 8 | Monmouth College | 20 |
| 9 | Knox College | 9 |
Complete Midwest Conference Release
