Swimmers excel at Dallas Invite
Nov. 24, 2008
The Pirate swim team headed to Dallas over the weekend to compete against eight other teams at the Dallas Invite. The women's squad competed hard, taking many races tight to wall and finished in 4th place. The men once again swam well and finished in 8th place on the weekend.
The women were led by senior Jessie Carrier who was just out touched at the wall in the 50 yard freestyle. She finished in a time of 24.94, just .22 seconds out of first place. Carrier also had a strong finish in the 100 yard freestyle, finishing in fourth place with a time of 54.75.
Senior Alana Bergfield contributed strong, point earning swims by finishing in third place in the 100 yard breaststroke in a time of 1:10.31 and in fourth place in the 200 yard breaststroke at 2:34.19. In the 100 yard backstroke, Southwestern put up a strong showing with sophomore Bailey Thompson finishing in 4th place at 1:02.47 and freshman Sarah Ayers in 11th place with a time of 1:03.91.
The biggest point earner of the weekend was the 400 yard freestyle relay consisting of Carrier, Thompson, Bergfield and Ayers. The relay came in with a time of 3:47.27, earning them 4th place and 30 points. SU showed the strength and depth of the team in the 400 and 200 yard medley relays by capturing 5th & 11th and 6th & 13th places, respectively.
On the men's side, SU was lifted by they strong swimming of freshman Evan Firth, junior John La Rochelle and freshman Travis Macha. Firth finished in third place in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 1:59,48, nearly 4 seconds under his seed time and in tenth place in the 100 yard butterfly at 53.83. LaRochelle came in at 2:25.73 in the 200 yard breaststroke, earning 10th place. Macha's best finish of the weekend was in the 50 yard freestyle, coming in 6th place with a time of 22.13.
The men also showed great depth by all relay teams finishing in 13th place or better.
The Pirate swimmers will return after Thanksgiving break to compete at home against Principia College on December 6th at 1:00 p.m.
