WILMINGTON- The Wilmington College women’s swimming team celebrated their seniors and dove back into the pool Saturday in an Ohio Athletic Conference dual meet against the University of Mount Union. Despite having a Fightin’ Quaker in the top three finishers in all but one event, Mount Union defeated Wilmington 138-64.
“(We) have been training very hard and well lately; we’re preparing for our (OAC) championship meet. With that tough work in mind, we had some outstanding swims and a great team effort,” WC head coach Trip Breen said. “Today, we also celebrated our senior class. It’s difficult to find words that show how much I appreciate their commitment to Wilmington College and the swimming program. I would like to personally thank Haley Rowland, Sarah Lynch, Natalie Thobe, Kathryn Spitznogle, Jordynn Wise, Elyse Spraul. This is a special class.”
Freshman Hannah Houston (Morrow, OH/Wilmington) brought home an individual first-place finish in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 28.70. Houston also came in third in the 100-meter freestyle (1:07.61).
Freshman Alyssa Rogers (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge), senior Elyse Spraul (Cincinnati, OH/Mount Notre Dame), and junior Samantha Glish (Louisville, KY/Ballard) joined Houston for a 200-meter medley relay which finished second in 2:10.53.
Glish grabbed the only other individual, first-place finish of the afternoon; hers in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 1:04.99. She also finished second in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 29.27.
Other second-place finishes included Rogers in the 200-meter individual medley (2:52.18) and Spraul in the 100-meter butterfly (1:14.24).
Senior Haley Rowland (Fairborn, OH/Xenia Christian) scored the first, third-place win of the meet for the Fightin’ Quakers in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 11:10.03. Following suit were: Spraul in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:24.20- a seasonal best by four seconds; sophomore Ellyse Herr (Edison, OH/Mount Gilead) in the 200-meter backstroke; and Rogers in the 200-meter breaststroke (3:09.61).
The 200-meter freestyle relay team of Rowland, junior Savanna Burcham (Urbana, OH/Urbana), sophomore Kathryn Spitznogle (Waynesville, OH/Waynesville), and Herr also achieved a third-place finish, clocking in at 2:04.96.
“Our female sprinters swam well today,” said Breen. “This is usually a tough time of year for sprinters and I’m excited to see what they do at our Championship meet.”
Breen said the women’s squad had 11 season best times in the meet.
The Fightin’ Quakers compete in their last dual meet of the regular season Saturday at John Carroll, a fellow OAC school.
