By Tori Caudill, Swimming World College Intern
Lindenwoood University Bellville’s swim team along with second year head coach Mandy “Chun” Lau, started their season with a powerful presence at the two-day Fall Frenzy Invitational hosted by Lindsey Wilson College.
Both the men’s and women’s teams led in points for all three sessions, ending with 1436 points and 1062.5 points respectively. Lindsey Wilson, came in second on both sides, with the men scoring 897 points and the women scoring 835.5 points.
“Chun” Lau was pleased with her team’s performance over the weekend, “We did well for a season opener. Overall, I am very satisfied with the performance of my athletes. We still have a lot of work to do, especially helping the freshman acclimate to college swimming.”
Top scorers on the men’s side include sophomore Sebastian Wegner of Dresden, Germany, freshman Timo Billman of Herzogenrath, Germany, and sophomore Lucas Denger-Harles of Mainz, Germany.
Wegner tallied two individual first place wins in the 100 yard butterfly (53.18) and 200 yard butterfly (2:00.30) along with two second place finishes in the 200 yard individual medley (2:02.22) and 200 yard backstroke (2:00.39). Billman placed first in the 50 yard freestyle (22.52) and second in the 100 yard butterfly (54.34), 100 yard breaststroke (1:01.89), and 200 yard butterfly (2:02.47).
Dengler-Harles posted first place finishes in the 500 yard freestyle (4:50.47) and 400 yard individual medley (4:20.05) along with a third place finish in the 200 yard butterfly (2:05.46) and a fourth place finish in the 200 backstroke (2:04.86). The three were also part of the winning 400 yard freestyle relay(3:16.65), along with sophomore Theodor Hansson from Sweden.
Photo Courtesy: United States Collegiate Athletics Association
Wegner and Dengler teamed up again in the 800 yard freestyle relay (7:18.22) and 400 medley relay (3:43.33) placing first and second respectively.
On the women’s side, the top scorers were Simone de Rijcke a freshman from the Netherlands, and Carly Breitbarth a sophomore from Lockport, Illinois. De Rijcke placed first in all four individual events: the 500 yard freestyle (5:22.63), the 200 yard freestyle (2:03.06), the 1,650 yard freestyle (18:41.35) and the 50 yard freestyle (25.45). Breitbarth also tallied four individual first place finishes in the 200 yard individual medley (2:20.60), the 400 yard individual medley (4:53.84), the 100 yard breaststroke (1:14.97), and the 200 yard breaststroke (2:41.08).
The two were also members of the first place 400 and 800 yard freestyle relays (3:56.43 and 8:36.71 respectively), and the second place 400 medley relay (4:31.61).
With such a solid start to the season, Chun is very optimistic about the season. “One of our biggest goals is always to bring together the team and to work together as a team to help each other achieve personal goals.”
Part of having such a large team Chun says, is the dynamic of upperclassmen taking the freshman under their wing. “I have really noticed the upperclassmen helping out with the younger swimmers, which is always nice to see, and makes my job as a coach a little easier.”
Lindenwood Bellville will be back in action at the Asbury Invitational on October 11.
Tori needs to learn to write winning times into article. First second and third place mean nothing without any times recorded.