By Alex Keil GRINNELL, Iowa – The hard work done by the Illinois College men’s and women’s swimming teams over the first two months of the season continues to pay dividends as a combined five school records fell on Saturday in the final day of the Pioneer Classic, hosted by Grinnell College. Katia Swane-Barzowski (1650 Freestyle), Lorraine Thompson (100 Freestyle) and the 800 Freestyle Relay team of Taylor Brien, Eve Gonzales, Swane-Barzowski and Thompson all set new IC standards on the women’s side. On the men’s side, Elijah Rhoad (200 Butterfly) and Oak Wattanasirakul (200 Breaststroke) set records as well. It was a hectic day on Saturday, with two sessions and a total of 28 events being contested. Despite the stakes, it was possibly the best day for both teams yet this season. Brien began the morning with the third-best time in IC history in the 400 IM, posting a time of 5:32.55. That was quickly followed by Audrey Brauer’s time of 1:05.83 in the 100 Butterfly, again the third-best mark in school history. Swane-Barzowski clocked the second-best 200 Freestyle time ever for IC with a 2:10.70. On the men’s side, Wattanasirakul and Rhoad each posted personal bests in the morning session as Wattanasirakul swam a 1:02.00 in the 100 Breaststroke and Rhoad had a 1:02.40 in the 100 Backstroke. The morning session concluded with the 800 Freestyle Relay and the Lady Blues “A” team of Brien, Gonzales, Swane-Barzowski and Thompson went out in style with a school record time of 8:59.50, shaving more than 20 seconds off the previous time. Wattanasirakul and Rhoad also teamed with Jonah Macke-Booth and Christopher Morton for the second-best 800 Freestyle Relay in the annals of IC swimming in the men’s event. Things would only get better in the afternoon as Swane-Barzowski set a new mark in the 1650 Freestyle with her time of 20:43.11. Impressively, Gonzales was just over a second behind her (20:44.45) with the second-best 1650 time ever for the Lady Blues and Brien posted the third-best time ever (20:59.25). One other record that fell on the night was in the 100 Freestyle as Thompson shaved more than a second off the previous Illinois College standard. The freshman was less than two seconds behind the winner with her time of 57.48. After starring for IC in the morning, Rhoad and Wattanasirakul were back at it later in the day for the Blueboys. In the last two individual events of the competition, Wattansirakul broke his own school record by more than two seconds in the 200 Breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:18.63 to place sixth overall. Rhoad followed that with a new record in the 200 Butterfly, coming home in 2:16.47. Before a break for finals and the winter holidays, Illinois College is back in Jacksonville next weekend to host Knox and Eureka at the Coultas Natatorium on Dec. 13 beginning at 1 p.m.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 07:17:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015