DELAWARE- The Wilmington College women’s swim team are third going into today’s action at the Corbiere-Merion Invitational at Ohio Wesleyan University.
This meet consists of three, timed final sessions, with two sessions on Saturday, and one on Sunday. At the conclusion of session one, the Fightin’ Quakers were solidly in third-place with 225 points. They held their ground throughout the second session, ending the day in third-place with 366.5 points.
“We’re excited going into tomorrow,” WC head coach Trip Breen said. “We had some great swims today, but we have to finish what we started.
(Sunday) we’ll have to keep the energy up. I always stress to the team that this meet is essentially half of the conference championship meet. The energy has to come from them; they’re the ones responsible for creating an atmosphere in which we can be successful.”
Session One
Freshman Hannah Houston (Morrow,OH/Wilmington) brought home the Fightin’ Quakers highest, individual finish of the session, clocking in at 1:05.98 in the 100-yard backstroke for fourth place. Teammate Elyse Spraul (Cincinnati,OH/Mount Notre Dame) finished close behind in that event, coming in eighth (1:10.12). Senior Kathryn Spitznogle (Waynesville, OH/Waynesville) touched the wall only 0.43 seconds behind Spraul for ninth.
The next highest finish for the team came from senior Haley Rowland (Fairborn, OH/Xenia Christian) in the 200-yard freestyle. Rowland earned fifth place with a time of 2:17.15. Junior teammate Anna Belokur (Towanda, PA/Towanda) swam in for seventh in that event with a time of 2:19.54.
Spraul achieved one of many seventh place finishes for the Fightin’ Quakers. Spraul’s seventh-place occurred in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:06.54.
Freshman Alyssa Rogers (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) achieved another one of the team’s seventh place finishes, her’s in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:16.32). Junior Samantha Glish (Louisville, KY/Ballard) finished just behind, in eighth place with a time of 1:16.94.
Houston, Rogers, Spraul, and Glish came together to form the team’s ‘A’ 200-yard medley relay. This quartet earned third with a time of 1:58.72. The same foursome also competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay at the conclusion of the session, clocking in at 4:04.62 for seventh.
Session Two
Glish and Houston clocked in with the team’s highest, individual finishes this session, earning sixth and seventh place, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle. Their respective times were 58.48 and 59.04.
Rogers achieved one of the team’s three, ninth-place finishes this afternoon, touching the wall in 2:35.60 in the 200-yard individual medley.
Rowland, a typical force in the distance events for the Fightin’ Quakers, traded in the long-distances for the sprint events this session, earning ninth in the 100-yard freestyle (1:02.46).
Spraul rounded out the trio of ninth-place finishes with a time of 2:30.46 in the 200-yard backstroke.
Sophomore Susan Householder (Lancaster, OH/Lancaster) achieved both tenth place and a lifetime best in the 200-yard breaststroke this session, completing the eight laps in 3:04.87.
Belokur, freshman Laura Swinehart (Lancaster, OH/Fairfield Union), junior Savanna Burcham (Urbana, OH/Urbana) and Rowland teamed up to compete in the 800-yard freestyle relay and earned seventh place with a time of 9:35.98 to end the session.
The Fightin’ Quakers will compete in the final session of the invitational at 10 a.m.
