Sophomore Lily McCarthy turned in the first of the team's four victories on Sunday as the Lake Forest College men's swimming and diving team placed second and the women fourth at the Midwest Conference Championship Meet. Both team titles were claimed by host Grinnell College.
McCarthy and fellow Forester sophomore Toni Corbani finished first and second, respectively, in the 1650-freestyle. McCarthy's time of 17:49.25 ranks her fourth in team history in that event. Corbani edged out the third-place finisher by three seconds with a time of 18:20.27.
The men's 1650-freestyle final preceded the women's and sophomore Ian Murphy finished fourth with a time of 16:53.27. Junior Sean Flanagan won the event's first heat earlier in the day and his 17:24.92 was good for eighth place overall.
The 200-backstroke was next in Sunday evening's finals session and junior Orion Huey defended his title in the men's race with a program record time of 1:51.29. It was also a NCAA Division III B-cut qualifying mark. Sophomore David Bunting placed sixth in 1:57.62 and freshman Frederick Weichmann was eighth in 2:00.26. Sophomore Landon Longfield won the B-final with a time of 1:58.78 to earn ninth place overall.
Lake Forest had three competitors in the A-final of the women's 200-backstroke. Junior Emily Bowens was the runner-up with a time of 2:06.44, sophomore Magdelan Kroeger finished sixth in 2:13.39, and sophomore Brigit Dunne was seventh in 2:14.08.
Junior Sam Freedberg was the fastest of three Forester men in the A-final of the 100-freestyle, completing the race in 47.41 seconds. Classmate Travis Johnson was fifth in the final in 47.85 seconds but his 47.14 in the morning prelims ranked him tied-for-fourth in team history. Sophomore James Winkler was sixth in 47.93 seconds. Fellow sophomore Jakobi McClellan finished fourth in the B-final and 12th overall in 48.68 seconds.
On the women's side, sophomore Simona Kurta placed 10th in the 100-free in 55.52 seconds, freshman Michaela Torres 14th in 57.11 seconds, and junior Lily Thorsen 16th in 57.39.
Senior Kristofer Korth then claimed the title in the 200-breaststroke for the third year in a row. His time of 2:05.94 was within four-tenths of a second of an NCAA B-cut. Juniors Ryan Keast and Chris Martinez tied for fifth place in the event with a time of 2:11.59 and classmate Josh Georgeff was second in the B-final and 10th overall in 2:16.56.
Junior Lauren Dalecky posted a fifth-place finish in the women's 200-breaststroke in 2:28.84 and sophomore Jessica Cline was 10th with a time of 2:36.26.
The final individual event of the weekend was the 200-butterfly, where senior Armel Cazedepats finished off his career by placing third in the men's race with a time of 2:01.36. It was the best finish of his four MWC Championship Meet appearances. Junior Virgil Thomas was fourth with a time of 2:01.84 and Murphy finished eighth in 2:06.78 after competing in the 1650-freestyle earlier in the night.
While Grinnell edged out the Foresters for the men's team title, Lake Forest posted a thrilling victory in the 400-freestyle relay, the final event of the meet, by just 0.14 seconds. The time of 3:08.89 posted by Freedberg, Buntin, Johnson, and Huey ranks them third in school history.
Kurta, Bowens, Dalecky, and McCarthy earned a third-place finish in the women's 400-freestyle relay in 3:38.97, less than a half-second shy of making the program's top-five list.
Lake Forest won 12 of 40 events, broke three school records and one MWC mark, and made 15 new or improved entries on the program's list of the top five performances by event.
Huey was the most decorated member of the team, winning two of his three individual events, helping Lake Forest finish first in each of his four relay races, and recording a B-cut and program record time in the 200-backstroke.
Freshman Heath Ogawa, MWC champion and conference record-holder in 3-meter diving and the league's runner-up off the 1-meter board, will represent the Foresters at next weekend's NCAA Division III Regional Diving Meet at Denison University.
Friday's Day 1 Recap | Saturday's Day 2 Recap
