Results

Chicago, Ill. – The Prairie Fire swim teams split their duals at Illinois Institute of Technology on Saturday.

The Knox women improved their dual meet record to 5-0 on the season by outscoring IIT 147-40.  The Knox men's squad is now 2-3 after coming up short 191-41 against the Scarlet Hawks.

The Prairie Fire teams combined for 12 individual first place finishes, led by sophomore Chris Walsh (Boulder, CO, Shining Mountain Waldorf School) and first-year Clarice Bernett (Chicago, IL, Lane Tech) with three apiece.

Walsh had a banner day with wins in the 50 yard freestyle, the 50 yard backstroke, and the 100 yard backstroke.  Bernett came up big for Knox by swimming to victories in the 100 yard backstroke, the 100 yard IM, and the 200 yard freestyle.

Four other Prairie Fire women's swimmers placed first in at least one event while the team won every event but the 100 yard freestyle.

First-year Madeline Bruce (Dunlap, IL, Dunlap) won the 50 yard freestyle and the 50 yard butterfly, first-year Anne Finnelly (Lemont, IL, Lemont) was the top performer in the 50 and 100 yard breaststroke races, first-year Jennifer Ripka (Palatine, IL, Palatine) finished first in the 50 yard backstroke, and sophomore Maddie Boehm (Kenosha, WI, Harborside Academy) won the 100 yard butterfly.

"This was a fun meet with short events and some relays we don't normally do," Knox head coach Jonathan Powers said.  "The team swam well and it was a great way to end some intense training."

The swimmers compete next in the Eureka College Sprint Meet on January 11 at 12:00 p.m.

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