Women finish 5th, Men 7th at SCAC Swimming and Diving Championships
02/10/2007

The men's and women's swimming teams competed in the 2007 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by DePauw University from February 7th through the 10th. The conference expanded to nine teams this year, adding Austin and Colorado College. Despite the larger pool of talent, the Lynx stormed through the meet, with the women shattering six school records and placing fifth overall, and the men placing seventh in the process of destroying four records.

For the lady Lynx, Junior Jazmin Miller blazed to a first place finish in the 100 yard freestyle, winning the event with a time of 53.89. Miller was also a finalist in the 50 and 200 freestyle, placing fifth in the former and third in the latter. In addition, Miller broke the school record in the 50 freestyle during the lead-off leg of the 200 freestyle relay, setting a new mark at 24.68. Sophomore Kim Green dominated in her events as well. Green set a new record in the 200 yard breastroke, finishing fifth in a highly competitive field. Likewise, Green raced to a second place finish in the 1650 yard freestyle and fourth overall in the 500 yard free. Seniors Mary Helen Solomon and Alison Lohse posted several best times. Solomon placed 12 in the 50 free, 15 th in the 100 free, and 15 th in the 100 backstroke. Captain Alison Lohse placed 16 th in the 200 IM, 11 th in the 400 IM, and 15 th in the 200 butterfly. The women worked well as a team, evidenced by records broken in the 200 and 800 freestyle relays, and the 200 and 400 medley relays.

The Men’s team, competing with only seven members, compared to the normal sixteen man squad, had a stellar meet. Freshman Pieter Smith crushed the 400 IM record with a time of 4:18.21 while cruising to a fourth place finish. Smith also demolished the 200 yard butterfly record in the preliminaries of the 200 fly, before placing 5 th during the final swim. A 12 th place finish in the 200 IM marked the end of Smith’s rampage. Teamate Matt Kilbane had a destructive swim in the 1650 freestlye, finishing fourth overall. Kilbane also had solid swims in the 500 and 200 freestyle, finishing 11 th and 13 th, respectively. Seniors and Co-Captains Josh Davis and Wyatt Franks posted personal and season bests in their respective events as well. Davis finished 12th in the 200 breastroke and 16 th in the100 breast. Franks. Finished 6 th in the 100 fly and 9 th in the 200, bettering his previous school records in each. Strong relay swims rounded out the performance of the Men’s team. Especially notable was the 800 freestyle relay consisting of Smith, Kilbane, Franks, and Junior Michael Lallemand, which lowered the school record by an astounding 17 seconds.

“We had awesome swims. I’m very pleased with our performance and look to improve upon it next year”, says Coach Jon Ducan. The Lynx swimming program continues to improve, and looks forward to capturing a SCAC title in the near future.