Complete Results
The men's and women's swimming teams are nearing the end of the regular season and hoping to peak during the Midwest Conference Swimming and Diving Championships later this month. The teams took a step in that direction during a triangular meet last Saturday hosted by Illinois College.
Five Prairie Fire swimmers each won two events while four more gathered one victory apiece against the men's and women's teams from Illinois College and Eureka College in Jacksonville, Illinois. The Knox women earned wins in 10 of 12 events to beat I-C and Eureka for the second time this season. Combined, the two Prairie Fire squads won 17 of 24 events at I.C.'s Coultas Natatorium.
The men's team was led by junior captain Tyler O'Neill (Bloomington, Minnesota) and first-year swimmer Alex Jandernoa (Grand Haven, Michigan).
O'Neill was victorious in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, outdistancing the runner-up by nearly 1.7 seconds. He also won the 100 Yard Butterfly, finishing more than 10 seconds ahead of the second-place swimmer. Along with the individual wins, O'Neill anchored the Prairie Fire's winning 200 Freestyle Relay team that also included sophomore Jesse Sindler (Canon City, Colorado), junior Kevin Lillie (Wheaton, Illinois) and junior Jeff Wickman (Naperville, Illinois).
Jandernoa also earned a pair of first-place finishes. He won the 200 Yard Freestyle and the 200 Yard Backstroke. Wickman and Sindler accounted for the remaining wins by the Prairie Fire men. Wickman was first in the 200 Yard IM and Sindler was victorious in the 100 Yard Freestyle.
Juniors Tory Kassabaum (St. Louis, Missouri) and Sarah MacDowell (Rockton, Illinois) -- the co-captains -- finished first in two events.
Kassabaum won the 50 Yard Freestyle and the 200 Yard Backstroke while MacDowell won the 100 Yard Breaststroke and the 100 Yard Freestyle. The two also teamed up with first-year swimmer Carrie Stephens (St. Louis, Missouri) and junior Katherine Miller LaGrange, Illinois) to take first in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay.
The Prairie Fire women also won the 200 Yard Medley Relay behind senior Krista Ahlberg (Longmont, Colorado), sophomore Zoey Kudla (Ypsilanti, Michigan), sophomore Anna Claypool (Portland, Oregon) and Stephens. Ahlberg, like Kassabaum and MacDowell, won a pair of individual events. She claimed victories in the 200 Yard Freestyle and the 100 Yard Backstroke. Kudla (200 Yard IM) and Claypool (100 Yard Butterfly) took each took first-place honors in one event.
"A lot of different people won events for us, which was nice to see," said Prairie Fire coach Jonathan Powers. "It's a nice reward for the hard work they've been putting in and hopefully it will carry over into the conference meet."
The three-day conference meet, hosted by Grinnell College, begins February 18. Knox has one more regular season meet, February 5 at Beloit College, to tune up for the MWC Championships.
