The Lake Forest College swimming and diving team is in Grinnell, Iowa, this weekend competing in the three-day Midwest Conference Championship Meet. The Foresters women are in second place and the men third after Friday's competition.

Lake Forest began Friday's finals session by posting two of the program's top times in the 200-freestyle relay. Freshman Benjamin Scott, sophomore Demetri Zemenides, junior Noah McAdam, and sophomore Alexander Wilson placed third at the meet but now rank second in school history at 1:24.75. On the women's side, freshman Izabella Harju, sophomore Valeria Welk, junior Sylvie Paddon-Jones, and freshman Audrey Kilmer were the runners-up in 1:37.55, which ranks them third in team annals.

The final three rounds of diving followed the relays and senior Harriet Townsend turned in the team's first victory of the weekend in the women's 3-meter competition. Her career-best score of 378.25 was nine points better than the runner-up, giving Townsend titles in back-to-back seasons off the higher board.

The 500-freestyle was next and freshman Gavin Biccum continued the Foresters' updating the program's top times list. He placed third in the race and his clocking of 4:40.41 ranks him second in team history. Sophomore Noah Garza joined Biccum in the A-final and finished sixth. Like Townsend in 3-meter diving, senior Ally McCarthy successfully defended her conference championship in the 500-freestyle, winning by more than four seconds in 5:03.83. Sophomore Amelie Andres finished third and senior Ella Burns fifth in the same race.

Freshman Clayton Berg represented the Lake Forest men in the A-final of the 200-individual medley, where he placed fifth in 1:57.64. Kilmer gave the women their third consecutive victory and her time of 2:06.79 ranks her second in team history. Paddon-Jones added to the team's point total with a fifth-place finish in the event.

The Foresters had just one swimmer in each A-final of the 50-freestyle. Zemenides was eighth on the men's side with a time of 21.74 seconds while Harju placed sixth in the women's race in 24.94.

Friday's competition concluded with the 400-medley relay, where Lake Forest's McAdam, senior Luke Bedalov, junior Ben Jacob, and Zemenides finished second in the men's race in 3:29.26. Kilmer, Andres, Harju, and Welk were third on the women's side with a time of 3:58.48.

The Forester women tallied 220 points on Friday, just six fewer than Grinnell College and 18 more than third-place St. Norbert College. Grinnell also leads the men's standings with 297.5 points. Lake Forest's 168 points leaves the team just behind St. Norbert, which has 184.5.

Saturday's prelims session will begin at 10:00 a.m. and the finals are set to start at 5:30 p.m.