Results
Monmouth, IL - Senior Bess Cooley (Shorewood, WI, Shorewood) and junior Patrick Inness (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) helped lead both Prairie Fire swimming teams to fourth place finishes Saturday at the Monmouth Invitational.
Cooley had two first place finishes and a second while also earning points as part of a relay team. She won the 100 yard breaststroke (1:11.55) and placed first in the 400 yard IM (4:59.06). Cooley’s second place finish was in the 200 yard breaststroke, which was won by Lake Forest College All-American Becky Shaak.
The Prairie Fire women’s 400 yard medley relay placed third, earning the team 12 points. Teaming up to swim the relay were Cooley, junior Anna Claypool (Portland, Oregon, Lincoln), senior Rachel Clark (Newton, IA, Newton), and senior Tory Kassabaum (Webster Groves, MO, Webster Groves).
Kassabaum placed third in the 100 yard backstroke to earn 6 points. She also scored for Knox in the 500 yard freestyle (5 points) and as part of the 800 yard freestyle relay (8 points). Joining Kassabaum on the relay team were senior Laura Blue (Ann Arbor, MI, Pioneer), Claypool, and first-year swimmer Madeline Troy.
Inness placed second in the 50 yard freestyle for the Prairie Fire men’s squad. He also scored points in the 200 yard freestyle, 500 yard freestyle and as part of the 800 yard freestyle relay – which placed fourth for 10 points. The other relay swimmers were junior Chris Holland, senior Alan Ning (Wilmette, IL, New Trier), and senior Tyler O'Neill (Bloomington, MN, Perpich Center for Arts Education).
O’Neill finished third in the 100 yard butterfly for 6 points. He also scored in the 100 yard breaststroke and the 200 yard backstroke.
Lake Forest finished first in the team standings in both the women’s and men’s meets. The Foresters were followed Loras College and Monmouth College. Millikin University placed fifth in the women’s team standings while Illinois College was fifth in the men’s standings.
"I'm really proud of how people swam today,” Knox Coach Jonathan Powers said. “We held our own against some fast competition."
The Prairie Fire resumes competition on December 2 and 3 at the Pioneer Classic hosted by Grinnell College.
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