The Hillsdale College women's swimming and diving team took on tough competition in a championship-style meet and put up some excellent times this weekend, finishing fourth out of six teams at the Don Kimble Invite hosted by Davenport University. The Chargers scored 625.5 points and finished behind Wayne State, Saginaw Valley, and Davenport. The meet was two and a half days with prelims and finals, and the top 16 scored, similar to the setup at the upcoming G-MAC/MEC Championship meet in February.
Several Hillsdale swimmers impressed, led by junior Marie Taylor made two NCAA DII B-cuts in the 50 and 100 freestyle. Taylor won the 100 freestyle and finished second in the 50. Freshman Elise Mason won the 1650 by 32 seconds, breaking the Hillsdale College school record, the GMAC conference record, and made the NCAA DII B-cut. Freshman Megan Clifford won the 200 butterfly and just missed the B-cut by .3 seconds.
Friday
1,650 yd freestyle
Freshman Elise Mason, who was named G-MAC Swimmer of the Week this past week, dropped almost a minute from her previous lifetime best time in the 1,650 and broke the Hillsdale College school record, the GMAC record, and won the event by 32 seconds, receiving an NCAA DII B-cut. Junior Sarah Clark finished eighth, dropping 20 seconds from her time two weeks ago against Notre Dame College (18:08.58). Sophomore Sarah Pataniczek swam a lifetime best time and finished ninth, half a second behind teammate S. Clark (18:09.06). Junior Leah Tunney put her focus on the first 1000 of the race, but still had a strong performance and finished eleventh (18:26.75). Senior Anna Clark was close behind for twelfth place, dropping 50 seconds from her time two weeks ago against Notre Dame College, and dropping 22 seconds from her performance at the 2021 GMAC/MEC Championships (18:27.22).
400 medley relay
The A-relay of Holmes, Dickhudt, Clifford, and Taylor finished sixth (3:55.91), the B-relay of Slepian, Burnham, A. Clark, and Guadalupi finished ninth (4:00.40) and the C-relay of Mills, Douthitt, Walker, and Fassett finished thirteenth (4:09.85).
200 freestyle relay
The A-relay of Taylor, Tunney, Slepian, and Guadalupi finished fifth (1:38.10), the B-relay of Pataniczek, Dickhudt, Burnham, and Briskey finished twelfth (1:42.80), and the C-relay of Boyle, Johnston, Douthitt, and Walker finished thirteenth (1:45.52).
Saturday
200 medley relay
The A-relay of Tunney, Dickhudt, Clifford, and Taylor finished seventh (1:48.40) and the B-relay of Slepian, Burnham, A. Clark, and Mason finished tenth (1:50.29). The B-relay of Slepian, Burnham, A. Clark and Mason finished tenth (1:51.39). The C-relay of Mills, Boyle, S. Clark, and Briskey finished twelfth (1:55.54).
200 butterfly
Freshman Megan Clifford won the 200 butterfly, dropping 3 seconds from prelims and just missing the NCAA B-Cut by .4 seconds (2:08.68 prelims, 2:05.76 finals). Senior Anna Clark swam a season best time by 5 seconds in prelims and finished eighth (2:11.46 prelims, 2:14.03 finals. Junior Anika Fassett swam a season best in prelims, and again in finals, dropping over two seconds (2:19.28 prelims, 2:16.95 finals) and finishing eleventh. Senior Stefanie Walker finished sixteenth, dropping almost 9 seconds from her seed time in prelims (2:20.29 prelims, 2:22.20 finals).
200 freestyle
Sophomore Caroline Holmes swam a season best time for seventh place (1:55.19 prelims, 1:55.16 finals). Junior Marie Taylor swam a season best time and finished eleventh (1:57.67 prelims, 1:56.13 finals).
100 breaststroke
Three Chargers were within .28 of each other. Freshman Joanna Burnham swam a season best time and finished tenth (1:08.10 prelims, 1:07.50 finals) and freshman teammate Emmalyse Dickhudt was close behind in eleventh with a season best time in prelims (1:07.25 prelims, 1:07.68 finals), and sophomore Cecilia Guadalupi finished twelfth with a season best time (1:08.06 prelims, 1:07.78 finals).
100 backstroke
Junior Leah Tunney tied for third place with a season best time (57.69 prelims, 57.97 finals). Sophomore Caroline Holmes finished sixth with a season best time (59.15 prelims, 58.49 finals). Junior Sydney Slepian swam a season best time for sixteenth place (1:01.57 prelims, 1:01.24 finals).
400 IM
Freshman Joanna Burnham finished second by .18 and swam a season best time (4:38.11 prelims, 4:36.95 finals). Freshman teammate Elise Mason was close behind for third place and swam a lifetime best time by 6 seconds (4:41.78 prelims, 4:37.14 finals). Sophomore Cecilia Guadalupi finished fifth with a season best time (4:40.40 prelims, 4:41.58 finals). Freshman Megan Clifford finished sixth with a season best time (4:40.32 prelims, 4:45.40 finals). Sophomore Amy Mills finished ninth with a season best time by 7 seconds (4:49.95 prelims, 4:47.35 finals).
50 freestyle
Junior Marie Taylor got an NCAA DII B-cut and finished second with a lifetime best time (23.98 prelims, 23.74 finals).
Sunday
500 freestyle
The top three finishers were all within a half second of each other. Junior Leah Tunney finished second with a season best (5:09.60 prelims, 5:07.07 finals), and freshman Elise Mason was .03 behind for third place and a lifetime best time (5:07.10). Junior Sarah Clark swam a season best time by almost 8 seconds and finished eleventh (5:16.54 prelims, 5:17.87 finals).
200 backstroke
Junior Leah Tunney swam a season best and finished in a close fourth place (2:06.85 prelims, 2:06.16 finals). Sophomore Caroline Holmes swam a season best time and finished eighth (2:07.71 prelims, 2:09.23 finals). Junior Sydney Slepian swam a season best and finished thirteenth (2:14.03 prelims, 2:15.54 finals).
100 butterfly
Freshman Megan Clifford had a close race with four swimmers finishing within .27 seconds. Clifford touched fourth with a season best (58.17 prelims, 57.77 finals). Senior Anna Clark swam a season best time and finished eleventh (59.81 prelims, 59.64 finals).
200 breaststroke
Freshman Joanna Burnham swam a season best time and finished seventh (2:29.77 prelims, 2:27.64 finals) and freshman teammate Emmalyse Dickhudt was close behind for eighth and a season best time (2:30.00 prelims, 2:28.09 finals). Senior Taylor Boyle finished sixteenth with a season best (2:38.04 prelims, 2:39.87 finals).
100 freestyle
Junior Marie Taylor won the 100 freestyle and got her second NCAA DII B-cut of the weekend with a lifetime best time (52.15 prelims, 51.49 finals).
200 IM
Freshman Joanna Burnham had a close race in the 200 IM and finished fourth with a season best (2:11.43 prelims, 2:10.41 finals). Megan Clifford swam a season best and finished seventh (2:12.12 prelims, 2:12.29 finals). Caroline Holmes was close behind for eighth and a season best (2:12.25 prelims, 2:13.10 finals). Emmalyse Dickhudt swam a lifetime best time and dropped four seconds from prelims to finish twelfth (2:17.44 prelims, 2:13.88 finals).
400 freestyle relay
The 400 freestyle A-relay of Mason, Walker, Holmes, Taylor finished eighth (3:38.73) and the B-relay of Pataniczek, A. Clark, S. Clark, Briskey finished twelfth (3:47.76).
Coming off this meet, the Chargers head into the long Winter Break in a strong position. Hillsdale will return to the pool at 1 p.m. on January 15 with a home meet against Saginaw Valley St. and new G-MAC member Ashland.