By Jessica Drogemuller, Swimming World College Intern
Brenau Women, West Virginia Tech Men Rule the ASC
The 2014-2015 collegiate swim season has wrapped for the Appalachian Swimming Conference. After a rough conference meet last year, it was exciting to see how this year would go and ASC swimming did not disappoint.
For the first time in several years, both of the Wheeling Jesuit University teams did not receive the championship title.
Throughout the last four years, either both the men’s and women’s teams have won or just one of the teams did. This year, both teams placed second.
Brenau University has swam well for the last few years and placed high, they simply haven’t had as many swimmers to get the job done completely. Fortunately for them, the Brenau women have found it within themselves to finish first. From outstanding relays to meet records, these ladies won by over 100 points.
After placing seventh last year, West Virginia Tech University surpassed all the other men’s teams. This team is a great example of having depth on your team. With at least one swimmer in every heat during the finals session, they increased their point values tremendously.
Photo Courtesy: Jessica Drogemuller
How Accurate Were My Predictions?
One week prior to the conference meet, a list of the top five races to watch was released. These races, among others had exciting conclusions.
Notre Dame College’s dynasty ended in the 200 freestyle relay. While the Falcons still hold onto the meet record, they ended up finishing fifth overall.
Wheeling’s Jakub Skrzypczak and Jakub Swierczynski dominated the 200 IM as predicted. Swierczynski was closely followed by Emmanuel College’s Camillo Mendoza, but managed to hold onto his second place finish. Skrzypczak repeated his first place finish later on in the 400 IM.
The women’s 50 freestyle kept its promise for excitement as everyone in the finals heat finished within a second of each other. The psych sheet included two women under 24 seconds, but that all changed when Union’s Callie Harrigan opted to swim the 500 instead. Wheeling’s Anna Davis ended up being the only one in finals to break 24.
As always, the men’s 50 freestyle was rousing. Although during the 200 medley relay, Saint Andrew’s University’s David Lambert swam a :19 50 freestyle split, his flat start won the finals heat with :20.61. Everyone else in the heat followed closely, all finishing under 22 seconds.
Urbana’s Kim Helander defended his champion title in the 100 butterfly with ease. The second place finisher touched the wall almost two seconds after Helander. In the final session, Helander pulled out a second place finish in the 200 butterfly as well.
Brenau got some major points from Courtney Hayward who once again won the mile. Although she didn’t swim a best time, she still managed to beat everyone by at least 25 yards. The points that she earned in this event contributed greatly toward the success of her team.
Overall, this year’s conference meet ran so much smoother than last year! At the beginning of the last session the snow started and it was fairly heavy, luckily the blizzard waited until the meet was in progress as opposed to prior to the start. Here’s to next year and hoping that the snow goes away entirely!