Trinity women’s swim and dive teams hit major markers of success in both team and individual accomplishments. They finished 17th in the nation as a team, which is their highest ever finish in the rankings. This, combined with a win at the conference meet as a team, make for a successful team season by most standards. On top of this they had two All-Americans and one honorable mention for the All-American roster.

“It’s amazing to have a group of girls who can work together when the odds are against us. To come out with a win is a great accomplishment,” said sophomore Lindsay Hagmann.

Hagmann has been swimming competitively for six years and was one of the All-Americans and competed at Nationals in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing 24th in the event. Hagmann also noted that she was especially proud of their team results this year because they competed without a full team. This left them without the ability to pick up points in certain areas so they had to make it up elsewhere.

Coach Jon Ryan and several members of the team said that the season was a product of a collective team effort that started all the way back in the fall semester.

“I’m extremely proud of the women this year. They put in an amazing effort to lift us to the heights we reached… Really the training and work goes all the way back to the fall. Through the offseason they came together for this season,” Ryan said.

Ryan was very happy with the team’s effort in the water, and also happy with how the team handled itself away from the water. The team boasted one of the higher GPAs for the sports teams on campus as an additional achievments to what they accomplished competing. This was important to the coaching staff and was used as evidence of how the women acted and worked.

“The women had a fantastic GPA, which says to me that they were really taking care of their responsibilities everywhere,” Ryan said of their work ethic.

They competed in a handful of meets in the fall and were happy with how they swam. During the winter, they had a training camp during which they swam against Whitworth, which has one of the top programs in the nation.

Ryan was thrilled with the way the team worked and seemed to really bond over their shared goals of improving individually and therefore helping the team.

“Even though swim and dive is more of an individual sport this year I especially felt like we were more of a team, and I think it is one of the reasons we did so well,” said sophomore diver Danielle Freund.

Freund was an honorable mention for the All-American honor and one of two divers to compete in nationals for Trinity this season, finishing 11th in the three-meter springboard dive competition, as well as ninth in the one meter springboard dive competition.

Ryan noted that on paper, Colorado College was the favorite going into the conference meet because many of the members of their team were returning. Colorado College was actually Trinity’s biggest competition in a highly contested meet that Trinity was ultimately able to win.

“We just got it rolling right from the first night … The next three days there were finals each day and race after race. We had women step up and compete really well. We knew Colorado was expected to win, but we also knew we could beat them if we stay focused because of our preparation,” Ryan said.

The Trinity women’s team won 11 of the 20 swim and dive events at the conference meet and picked up points in almost every other event with their finishes this year in route to their 13th consecutive conference championship.

The season was one that met and surpassed many of the goals set before the season. Each individual wanted to set personal bests in the event he or she competes in, and many people accomplished this during the season.

“We came together, and the support that we were able to give led to so many personal bests, including myself, this season. I look forward to continuing with this team in the future,” Hagmann said.

As a team, they wanted to win the SCAC conference and send as many people to Nationals as they could. They were able to win conference and send three people to Nationals, but the all-time high finish in National rankings was a much welcome added bonus for a team that worked for achievements all season.

The dive team also took two of the three spots for Nationals, with Danielle Freund and Sara Kate Mrkonich competing in the National Championships.

Mrkonich finished ninth in the three meter springboard dive nationals and 13th in the one meter. They hope to continue to dominate the conference next season and send even more people to the National Championships.