Last weekend, the Trinity swimming and diving teams headed to conference rival Southwestern University for a meet Jan. 17. The Tiger women won 176-115, while the men lost 119.5-179.5.
Helping the women’s program emerge victorious was the 200-yard medley relay team of Lydia Jones, Kelly Holton, Christine Hoelterhoff and Lindsay Hagmann, who edged Southwestern by 0.2 seconds.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the team of Jones, Lauren Cuda, Bethany Rysak and Hagmann won by over 3 seconds with their time of 3:42.18. Holton went on to win the 100-yard breaststroke and the 20-yard breaststroke as well, posting a time of 1:11.49 and 2:36.78, respectively. Jones also triumphed in her other events with a time of 24.83 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle and 53.93 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, with teammate Hagmann finishing close behind her in both.
In the 200-yard freestyle, the Tiger women stole the top four slots, with Rysak leading the charge with her time of 2:00.80. Other victories for the women were Thea Hesson in the 200-yard backstroke (2:13.58), Rachel Hure in the 500-yard freestyle (5:32.65) and Becca Andruzzi in the 1000-yard freestyle (11:38.06).
The diving team excelled as well, with Danielle Freund leading a pack of six Tigers to the top positions in the one-meter diving event and Sarah Mrkonich leading five to the top spots in the three-meter diving event.
Trinity’s women’s swimming and diving team won 12 events at the meet and has won 11 straight conference titles. “It definitely motivates us to win on more,” Andruzzi said. “It’s cool to be able to be a part of a legacy, and I definitely look up to the seniors that have been on a winning team for so long.”
Although the men came up short against Southwestern, they still performed well. Andrew Thiesse paved the way with his victory in the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.30) and Stephen Culberson surged in the 100-yard freestyle, posting a time of 47.80 seconds. Thiesse and Culberson also won the 400-yard relay with teammates Adam Thomas and Isaac Johnson.
“The men’s team wasn’t satisfied with the overall result on Saturday, being a loss to a rival team, but overall the outlook is a good one,” Culberson said. “We are at a different point in training than Southwestern, and are confident that we will have a lot of success in Rockwall at the SCAC Championships in a couple of weeks. We are swimming better at this point in the season as a team than I have ever witnessed in my four years here, and that is something to be excited about.”
Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams head to Chicago to take on DePauw University and the University of Chicago in a double-dual meet tomorrow. The SCAC Championships are less than a month away in Rockwall, Texas. The men look to win their fourth straight conference title, while the women will being going for their 12th consecutive title. The SCAC Championships are scheduled to run from Feb. (11-14.)
