The Lake Forest College men's swimming & diving team defeated Morningside College and host Augustana College on Saturday while the Forester women posted a victory over Morningside but fell to Augustana. Sophomore Kristopher Korth won a pair of individual events, the second to set up a dramatic finish to the meet.
Korth posted the Foresters' initial victory on the day, touching the wall first in the 1000-freestyle with a time of 10:09.28. The runner-up from Augustana finished more than 12 seconds later.
Senior Zachary Wenner made it back-to-back wins for the Lake Forest men when he prevailed in the 200-freestyle in 1:46.39.
The Foresters swept the first diving events, with junior Christina Pekar taking the women's 1-meter with 245.00 points and freshman Mateusz Obstoj tallying 237.65 points to win the men's 3-meter.
Sophomore Brooke Rowley was the only other Forester female to win an individual event. She placed first in the 100-butterfly with a time of 1:02.87.
Ten events passed between Lake Forest victories, a drought ended by Korth in the 100-breaststroke. His time of 1:01.39 was just a half-second ahead of the runner-up from Augustana, giving the Forester men a 107-106 lead going into the 200-freestyle relay, the meet's final event.
The women's 200-free relay was first, however, and Forester freshman Lauren Dalecky, senior Loren Dutca, freshman Emily Bowens, and sophomore Alex Dunn left the pool victorious with a time of 1:45.97.
Freshman Drake Nickell led off the 200-free relay for the Lake Forest men and finished his leg within a tenth-of-a-second of Augustana. Senior Garr Punnett grabbed a .61-second lead and the Foresters were still ahead by more than a half-second when freshman Travis Johnson finished and Wenner began swimming the final 50 yards. Wenner's leg of 21.67 seconds was more than a second faster than Augustana's anchor, giving the Lake Forest relay a win in 1:29.86 and the entire team a 10-point victory over the hosts.
In addition to the victories listed above, runner-up finishes were also posted by Dutca in the 200-freestyle (2:05.26), Dunn (25.48) and Nickell (22.86) in the 50-freestyle, freshman Sam Freedberg in the 200-IM (2:04.02), Punnett in the 100-butterfly (52.69), Bowens (1:04.39) and freshman Virgil Thomas (56.67) in the 100-backstroke, junior Sarah Peker (265.90 points) in the 3-meter diving competition, and Obstoj (232.60) off the 1-meter board.
The Lake Forest men are now 3-0 on the season and the women 1-2.
The Foresters will host NCAA Division II Lewis University next Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
