2012 Midwest Conference Swimming and Diving Championships – Lawrence University
Day 1 – February 17, 2012
Two Knox women’s swimming records fell on the first day of the 2012 Midwest Conference Championships on Friday in Appleton, Wisconsin.
During the morning session, senior Rachel Clark (Newton, IA, Newton) set a new school record in the 50 freestyle in a time of 25.89. "I'm just so pleased for Rachel, coach Jonathan Powers said. “I know she had her eye on the record and it’s great to see her hard work payoff."
Powers said there were several good swims during the first session of the meet that resulted in top 16 finishes, which qualify for the finals during the second session – and points for the Prairie Fire.
Powers mentioned swimmers in four events that performed well.
They were senior Tory Kassabaum (Webster Groves, MO, Webster Groves) along with first-years Susannah Lodge-Rigal (Bloomington, IN, Bloomington) and Madeline Troy (Naperville, IL, Naperville North) in the 500 freestyle as well as Clark and first-year Colleen Shelly (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) in the 50 freestyle for the women’s squad.
The men’s swimmers recognized by Powers were senior Tyler O'Neill (Bloomington, MN, Perpich Center for Arts Education) in the 200 IM and junior Patrick Inness (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) in the 50 freestyle.
The second school record broken on Friday was the women's 200 freestyle relay. Kassabuam, Shelly, senior Anne Heberle (Lodi, CA, Tokay), Clark finished the event in 1:45.25. That broke the previous record of 1:45.78 set at the 2010 MWC Championships by Kassabaum, Emilie Perrot, Heberle, and Clark.
"Just about every swim we had today was a season's best so I'm really excited to see how the rest of the meet goes," Powers said.
The Prairie Fire women’s team is in sixth place out of nine teams with 85 points. The leader after the first day is Lake Forest College with 299 points. Knox’s men’s team has accumulated 59 points, just two points behind sixth place Ripon College’s 61. Grinnell College holds the lead with 300.5 points.
The second day of competition resumes Saturday, February 18 in the morning.
Day 2 – February 18, 2012
The Prairie Fire women's team made it a third school record at the MWC Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday.
The 800 freestyle relay team of Kassabaum, Bess Cooley (Shorewood, WI, Shorewood), Lodge-Rigal, and Clark set the new mark with a time of 8:22.12. The relay placed fifth at the meet and scored 28 points. The previous record of 8:24.76 was established at the 2010 MWC championships.
Another highlight for the women's team was Cooley's second place finish in the 400 IM in 4:52.13, which was 11.38 seconds faster than her preliminary time. She also placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke. Kassabaum placed fifth in the 200 freestyle for 14 points. Sophomore Marie Anderson (Pleasant Hill, CA, Athenian) qualified for the 100 backstroke finals, then knocked nearly four seconds off of her preliminary time and finished 11th to earn six points. The 200 medley relay team of Cooley, Shelly, junior Zoey Kudla (Ypsilanti, MI, Greenhills), and Heberle placed fifth for 28 points.
The men's team received a seventh place finish and 12 points by senior Alan Ning (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) in the 400 IM. Inness was eighth in the 200 freestyle (11 points), O'Neill placed ninth in the 100 breaststroke (9 points), and the 800 freestyle relay team of O'Neill, Ning, Inness, and senior Junyoung Cho (Sungnam, South Korea, New Tier) finished seventh and received 24 points.
The men's team moved up from seventh in the team standings on Friday to sixth on Saturday with 137 points. The leader is Grinnell College with 667.5.
The Prairie Fire women's team is firmly in sixth place with 213 points, 88 points ahead of seventh place Beloit College. Leading the women's standings is Lake Forest College with 651 points.
The third and final day of the championships is on Sunday.
Day 3 – February 19, 2012
The Prairie Fire women's and men's teams combined for four top five finishes on the final day of competition at the conference meet, while two relays and 10 individuals also contributed points.
Kassabaum placed fourth in the 200 yard backstroke in 2:15.42 for 15 points. Kudla also scored in the event by finishing 14th. Cooley added a fourth place finish in the 200 yard breaststroke (2:31.17) for another 15 points. Sophomore Allison White (Carbondale, IL, Carbondale) also placed (16th) in the event for the Prairie Fire.
Clark continued her outstanding meet, which included her setting a new school record in an individual event and contributing to new all-time marks in two relays, with a fifth place finish in the 100 yard freestyle (:56.24). Inness had the other top five finish by placing 5th and earning 14 points for the men's team in the 100 yard freestyle (:48.50).
The women's team had four swimmers place in the 1650 yard freestyle. Lodge-Rigal was ninth, senior Laura Blue (Ann Arbor, MI, Pioneer) 11th, Troy 13th, and senior Rebekah Bally (Vancouver, WA, Evergreen) 14th. The four combined for 22 points in the event.
O'Neill added a sixth place finish in the 200 yard backstroke (2:05.05) for 13 points and senior Jeff Wickman (Naperville, IL, Naperville North) added four more points by placing 13th for Knox.
The Prairie Fire also received valuable contributions from Ning and first-year swimmer Nick Polizos (Hoffman Estates, IL, Barrington Community). Ning was 11th in the 200 yard butterfly (6 points) while Polizos placed 13th in the 200 yard breaststroke (4 points).
Both Prairie Fire 400 yard freestyle relay teams performed well. The women's relay foursome of Clark, Shelly, Cooley, and Kassabaum finished the race in 3:49.29 to earn 26 points. The men's relay team of O'Neill, Wickman, Ning, and Inness placed eighth for 22 points.
The Prairie Fire women's swim team placed sixth and the men's team seventh after the last day of competition at the conference meet.
Coach Jonathan Powers likes the way his teams competed. "This was a great way to end the season. So many different swimmers stepped up and contributed."
Final results of the meet are available by clicking here.
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