The Hillsdale Charger swim team are back to back GMAC & MEC Champions! The Chargers won their second-straght conference title with 1,690.5 points, topping runner-up Findlay, which finished second with 1,464 points.
Head coach, Kurt Kirner was named GMAC/MEC women's coach of the year for the third year in a row.
Freshman Cecilia Guadalupi was named GMAC/MEC freshman of the year, the third Charger swimmer in the last four seasons to win the honor. Guadalupi was the conference champion in the 200 and 400 IM, she finished second in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, and was part of the winning 200 freestyle relay and the second place 400 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay.
The Charger backstrokers scored critical points by placing 1-2-3-7 in the 200 backstroke. Freshman Caroline Holmes won her second conference title with a lifetime best time by over three seconds of 2:05.08. Sophomore Leah Tunney had a close second place (2:05.68) dropping almost three seconds from prelims. Senior Katherine Heeres finished third after swimming a season best in prelims and going into finals as the top seed (2:05.83 prelims, 2:06.11 finals). Freshman Amy Mills finished seventh with a lifetime best time (2:09.72).
Three Chargers placed in the top eight in the 200 butterfly. Junior Anna Clark finished with a lifetime best time (2:08.93). Sophomore Anika Fassett finished fourth with a season best time (2:11.84). Sophomore Madison Pyhel finished eighth in the 200 butterfly swimming a season best time in prelims (2:09.60 prelims, 2:13.76 finals).
Sophomore Marie Taylor finished in a close second place in the 100 freestyle and swam under 52 seconds for the first time in finals (51.46). Senior Emma Rao finished sixth with a season best time in prelims (54.46 prelims, 54.72 finals).
Freshman Cecilia Guadalupi finished second in the 200 breaststroke with a season best time (2:24.15). Junior Maddie Breay finished fifth with a season best time (2:28.59).
Charger distance scored critical points in the mile. Sophomore Sarah Clark finished third with a season best time by twenty-seven seconds (17:52.79). Sophomore Madison Pyhel had a very close fourth place finish behin S. Clark and a season best time by twenty-two second (17:52.87). Freshman Sarah Pataniczek finished seventh with a lifetime best time by almost thirty-four seconds (18:09.58). Junior Anna Clark finished eleventh with a season best time by fifteen seconds (18:49.44).
The 400 freestyle of Taylor, Holmes, Tunney, and Heeres finished second (3:33.30).
Junior Stefanie Walker finished ninth in the 200 butterfly with a season best time (2:16.48).
Junior Taylor Boyle finished eleventh in the 200 breaststroke with a season best time (2:35.50). Boyle also finished twentieth in the 100 freestyle swimming a season best time in prelims (56.54 prelims, 56.95 finals).
Junior Carissa Henderson finished fifteenth in the 200 backstroke and swam a season best in prelims (2:15.61 prelims, 2:18.75 finals). Henderson also swam the 100 freestyle and finished twenty-first swimming a season best in prelims (56.68 prelims, 57.03 finals).
Sophomore Hannah Douthitt finished seventeenth in the 200 breaststroke with a season best time (2:38.39) dropping almost three seconds from prelims.
Sophomore Sydney Slepian finished twelfth in the 200 backstroke and swam a season best in prelims (2:13.97 prelims, 2:15.40 finals).
Thursday
Three conference titles and a new team record were set by the Chargers during day three of the GMAC & MEC Championships. Hillsdale took a huge lead with 1,170.5 points. Findlay is second with 1,043 points.
The 200 freestyle relay of Taylor, Guadalupi, Rao, and Heeres broke the Hillsdale school record and became the conference champions with a time of 1:35.65. Guadalupi, Rao, and Heeres all split lifetime best times and Taylor was .02 from her lifetime best that she swam yesterday.
Freshman Cecilia Guadalupi won her second conference title in the 400 IM with a lifetime best time (4:33.94) dropping over seven seconds from prelims. Guadalupi also finished second in the 100 breaststroke with a season best time (1:05.04).
Freshman Caroline Holmes won her first conference title in the 100 backstroke with a lifetime best time (57.46). She was the top seed going into finals. Holmes also swam the 200 freestyle and finished third with a season best time (1:54.75).
Freshman Amy Mills finished second behind teammate Guadalupi in the 400 IM with a season best time (4:40.18). She was the top seed going into finals.
Sophomore Leah Tunney finished second behind teammate Holmes in the 100 backstroke with a lifetime best time (57.67)
Senior Katherine Heeres finished fourth in the 100 backstroke with a season best time (58.78). Heeres also swam the 200 freestyle and finished seventh with a season best time (1:57.00).
Junior Anna Clark tied for fourth in the 100 butterfly with a lifetime best time (58.17).
Sophomore Madison Pyhel finished seventh in the 100 butterfly with a season best time swam in prelims (59.07 finals, 59.01 prelims).
Sophomore Sarah Clark finished eighth in the 200 freestyle with a season best time (1:58.96 prelims, 1:58.98 finals).
Junior Taylor Boyle finished eighth in the 100 breaststroke with a lifetime best time (1:07.75).
Sophomore Marie Taylor finished ninth in the 200 freestyle with a lifetime best time (1:57.18) dropping two and a half seconds from prelims.
Sophomore Anika Fassett finished ninth in the 100 butterfly with a season best time (59.53).
Sophomore Stefanie Walker finished tenth in the 100 butterfly with a season best time swam during prelims (59.32 prelims, 59.53 finals).
Sophomore Sydney Slepian finished eleventh in the 100 backstroke with a season best time (1:00.90) and fourteenth in the 400 IM with a lifetime best time (5:01.40) dropping over four seconds from prelims.
Junior Maddie Breay finished twelfth in the 100 breaststroke with a season best time (1:10.38). Breay also finished sixteenth in the 200 freestyle (2:02.57 prelims, 2:04.48 finals).
Senior Emma Rao finished sixteenth in the 100 butterfly swimming a lifetime best time and first time breaking a minute in prelims (59.65 prelims, 1:01.30 finals). Rao also finished twenty-fourth in the 100 breaststroke with a season best time in prelims (1:15.01 prelims, 1:16.20 finals).
Junior Carissa Henderson finished sixteenth in the 100 backstroke with a season best time (1:02.38).
Freshman Sarah Pataniczek finished seventeenth in the 200 freestyle with a season best time (2:00.65).
Sophomore Hannah Douthitt finished seventeenth in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.48). Douthitt also finished twenty-first in the 400 IM with a lifetime best time by eleven seconds (5:11.02) dropping almost eight seconds from prelims.
Wednesday
After day two of the G-MAC/MEC Championship meet in Canton, Ohio, Hillsdale still leads the conference with 633 points, Findlay is second with 510.5 points, and UNC Pembroke is third with 374 points.
Freshman Cecilia Guadalupi won her first conference title in the 200 IM with a season best time (2:06.67) dropping almost two seconds from her prelims time.
Sophomore Marie Taylor finished second place in the 50 freestyle by .01 behind UNC-Pembroke. She swam a lifetime best time and broke 24 seconds for the first time (23.81).
Sophomore Leah Tunney finished second in the 500 freestyle with a season best time (5:04.64), dropping over four seconds from her prelims time.
Freshman Caroline Holmes finished fourth in the 200 IM with a lifetime best time by almost three seconds (2:10.45 finals, 2:10.17 prelims). Places 2-4 were all within .21 of each other. Freshman Amy Mills finished fifth with a lifetime best time (2:12.75) dropping almost two seconds from her prelims time. Sophomore Sydney Slepian finished twelfth with a season best time (2:17.37) dropping over two seconds from prelims.
Senior Emma Rao finished fourth in the 50 freestyle tying with her lifetime best time (24.28). Senior Katherine Heeres finished sixth with a season best time (24.63 prelims, 24.73 finals). Junior Carissa Henderson finished twelfth with a season best time (25.49).
Sophomore Sarah Clark finished eighth in the 500 freestyle (5:16.65 finals, 5:15.89 prelims). Sophomore Anika Fassett had a strong eleventh place finish with a season best time (5:17.24) dropping over four seconds from prelims. Freshman Sarah Pataniczek finished twelfth with a season best time (5:18.99) dropping over five seconds from prelims. Junior Stefanie Walker finished thirteenth with a lifetime best time (5:19.92) dropping over three seconds from prelims. Junior Maddie Breay finished eighteenth with a season best time (5:24.23) dropping over a second from prelims.
The 400 medley relay of Tunney, Guadalupi, A. Clark, and Taylor finished second (3:53.95) behind Findlay. Tunney split a lifetime best time in the backstroke leg (57.66), Guadalupi split a season best in the breaststroke leg, missing her lifetime best by .07 (1:04.60), A. Clark had a strong butterfly leg (59.20), and Taylor split a season best time in freestyle, missing her lifetime best time by .03 (52.49).
Tuesday
Tuesday evening started the first day of the GMAC/MEC Championships held in Canton, Ohio. After the first three events, Hillsdale currently leads the ten teams with 271 points, UNC Pembroke is second with 161 points and the University of Findlay is third with 156 points.
Chargers saw immediate success with a new team record on the very first event. The 200 medley relay of Holmes, Boyle, Rao, and Taylor finished in a close second place behind Findlay with a team record of 1:46.27.
The Charger distance swimmers scored significant points by all 8 placing in the top 16. Sophomore Leah Tunney finished third with a season best time (10:37.39), sophomore Sarah Clark finished fourth with a lifetime best time (10:40.03), sophomore Madison Pyhel finished sixth (10:49.76), freshman Sarah Pataniczek finished ninth with a lifetime best time (10:57.70), freshman Amy Mills finished tenth with a season best time (10:59.05), junior Anna Clark 10:59.44 finished eleventh with a season best time (10:59.44), junior Stefanie Walker finished twelfth with a lifetime best time (11:00.06), and sophomore Anika Fassett finished thirteenth with a season best time (11:00.57).
The 800 freestyle relay of Heeres, Tunney, Guadalupi, and Holmes finished second behind UNC Pembroke (7:41.71).
The Charger women's swimming and diving team will pick up the action again tomorrow at 10 a.m. with prelim heats in several events, and the qualifiers that advance will compete in finals at 6 p.m. that night. Action at the G-MAC Championships will continue through Friday night.
Written by Zoe Tracey
Photo courtesy of Edward Smith