On a night when the Hillsdale College women's swimming team honored its distinguished senior class, the Chargers hung tough with conference rival Ashland University.
The dual meet between the Chargers and the Eagles Friday night came down to the last two events. In the end, Ashland won by three points 132.5-129.
In their last meet before the GLIAC championships, the Chargers came out fighting. The distance swimmers dominated the meet once again taking the top three places in both the 1000 Freestyle and 500 Freestyle. First, in the 1000 Free, sophomore Zoe Hopkins took first place with a season best time of 10:49.66. Following her were sophomore Hannah Leitner and junior Jordan Rucinski respectively. Then, in the 500 Freestyle Zoe Hopkins took first place once again with a time of 5:15.33 while freshman Kylie Powrie took second and sophomore Jennifer Wheeler grabbed third.
Junior Rachael Kurtz added two first place finishes of her own in both the 50 Freestyle and 100 Freestyle. Other notable swims occurred in the 50 Breaststroke where junior Cayley Cruickshank took first, the 200 Butterfly won by Wheeler, and the 100 IM won by sophomore Sarah Rinaldi. Senior Molly Birrer swam a season best time in her 100 Freestyle while Powrie posted her own season best in the 200 Freestyle.
As the final home meet and senior night, the chargers are looking forward to GLIACS where they will be well rested and ready to race. The GLIAC Championships are February 12-15 in Cleveland, Ohio.