The Lake Forest College swimming & diving teams are competing at the Midwest Conference Championship Meet at Grinnell College this weekend and the Forester men are in the lead after Friday's competition. Juniors Christina and Sarah Pekar were the top two finishers in 3-meter diving and the women's team ranks second with two days remaining.
The first swimming final, the men's 200-freestyle relay, provided the Lake Forest men their first victory of the day. Freshmen Drake Nickell and Travis Johnson and seniors Garr Punnett and Zachary Wenner successfully defended the Foresters' only 2013 relay title with a time of 1:25.19, which ranks second in program history. They finished more than two seconds ahead of second-place Grinnell. Lake Forest placed third in the women's race but the time of 1:39.30 posted by freshmen Lauren Dalecky and Emily Bowens, junior Kelsie Miller, and sophomore Alex Dunn ranks third in school history.
The men's 1-meter and women's 3-meter diving competition took place after the morning prelims. Christina Pekar's career-best 11-dive total of 505.45 points was a pool record and ranks her second in program history. Sarah Pekar was the runner-up with 451.25 points. On the men's side, freshman Mateusz Obstoj finished third and his score of 421.50 points ranks him third in team annals.
Five Foresters qualified for the 8-man A-final in the 500-freestyle and four of them posted times that rank them among the top five in team history. Freshman James Haney was the runner-up and his time of 4:41.04 was just 0.35 seconds off the program record. Wenner finished third in 4:42.49, junior Mitchell Reiner was fourth in 4:44.23, and fellow junior Brock Mone placed fifth in 4:47.08. Freshman Virgil Thomas added a seventh-place finish and time of 4:48.00. Senior Loren Dutca was fourth in the women's 500-free with a time of 5:14.94 and freshman Lily Thorsen won the B-final (9th place overall) in 5:23.61.
The Foresters' first school record to fall at the competition was the 200-IM mark established by Lake Forest College Hall of Fame member Robert Edgell in 2000. Freshman Sam Freedberg's time of 1:53.48 was good for second in the meet but was nearly six-tenths of a second ahead of Edgell's previous record. It was also a "B-cut" qualifying time for the NCAA Division III Championships. Sophomore Emile Siroit finished fourth and his time of 1:57.00 moved him up to fourth in team history in the event. Freshman Orion Huey was fifth in 1:57.61, sophomore Armel Cazedepats placed eighth in 1:59.67, and freshman Ryan Keast finished 13th in 2:04.19 (2:03.43 in morning prelims). Four Forester women placed in the event, led by sophomore Brooke Rowley in sixth place with a time of 2:16.37. Senior Sarah Stoklosa was next in 2:17.64, followed by freshman Aidan Bybee in 2:20.27 (2:17.49 in prelims). Senior Sabrina Letwin's 2:23.55 was good for 15th place (2:22.26 in prelims).
Johnson staked his claim as the fastest sprinter in the conference by winning the 50-freestyle in 21.41 seconds, which ranks him third in program history. Nickell finished fourth in 21.59 seconds. Dunn narrowly missed defending her title in the women's 50-free but placed second with a time of 24.44 seconds. Dalecky was seventh in 25.07 and Bowens placed 12th in 25.67 seconds. All three women were slightly faster in the morning prelims, posting times of 24.34, 25.03, and 25.29 seconds, respectively.
Lake Forest swept the final event of the night, the 400-medley relay. Punnett led off and was followed by sophomore Kristofer Korth, Freedberg, and Wenner. Their time of 3:25.17 was 0.72 seconds better than Grinnell's and set a new school record. Bowens, Dalecky, Rowley, and Dunn also finished less than a second ahead of the Pioneers and their time of 3:57.66 ranks second in team history. Bowens also moved into the program's top five in the 100-backstroke by leading off the relay in 59.83 seconds.
The Forester men tallied 267 points on the day, 21 more than Grinnell. Lake Forest's women have 205 points and trail the home team by 53.
Saturday's prelims begin at 10:00 a.m., the men's 3-meter and women's 1-meter diving will start an hour after they end, and the evening finals are scheduled for 5:30. Champions will be crowned in the diving events, 200-medley relay, 400-IM, 100-butterfly, 200-freestyle, 100-breaststroke, 100-backstroke, and 800-freestyle relay.
