AKRON – The Wilmington College women’s swimming team completed the Ohio Athletic Conference Swimming Championship, and their season, witha sixth place finish Saturday night.
To be eligible to swim in a finals session, a swimmer must post one of the top 16 times in the AM prelims session. The top eight times swim in a championship heat, and the bottom eight in a consolation heat. Consolation heat swimmers are not eligible for the top eight places, even if their time is worthy.
Saturday’s finals consisted of a timed final of the 1650-yard freestyle, the 200-yard backstroke, the 100-yard freestyle, the 200-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard butterfly, and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The women ended the weekend of hard swimming in sixth with 226 points.
“We had three days of outstanding swimming,” WC head coach Trip Breen said. “It was fun to watch literally everyone swim fast. Today was a great day to end the weekend. The two team records to close the meet (men’s and women’s 400-yard freestyle relay) were the perfect way to end. We had a lot of fun. I appreciate the hard work of the team and all of the great parent support this season.”
In the 1650-yard freestyle, sophomore Rachel O’Donnell (Seven Hills, OH/Normandy) was the top finisher for the Fightin’ Quakers, finishing the 66 laps in 19:46.11, earning 14th. Next to touch the wall was senior Haley Rowland (Fairborn, OH/Xenia Christian). Rowland posted a 20:11.55 for 16th. The final Fightin’ Quaker to finish the event was freshman Samantha Harter (Canton, OH/Glen Oak). Harter finished the race in 21:43.26 and earned 19th.
Senior Elyse Spraul (Cincinnati, OH/Mount Notre Dame) competed in the 200-yard backstroke, where her time of 2:21.00 earned 12th.
Junior Samantha Glish (Louisville, KY/Ballard) was the top individual finisher for the Fightin’ Quakers, placing seventh in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 55.36. Freshman Hannah Houston (Morrow, OH/Wilmington) was the next to touch the wall in the event, posting a 55.55 for ninth. Fellow freshman Alyssa Rogers (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) earned 15th with her time of 57.38.
Houston, Spraul, Rogers, and Glish joined forces to close out the meet in record setting fashion with the 400-yard freestyle relay. The quartet finished fifth with a time of 3:45.20, a new WC record by two one-hundredths of a second.
