In their final event of 2023, the Hillsdale College women's swimming and diving team found great success against tough competition at the Don Kimble Invitational hosted by Davenport University over the weekend.
Hillsdale finished fourth with 605 points in an eight-team field that included nationally-ranked Wayne State University and several other tough Midwest Region foes.
Leading the way for the Chargers were Hillsdale's two returning All-Americans, who both officially put their hats into the ring to swim again at the NCAA DII Championship meet with B-cut times at this weekend's event.
Hillsdale junior Megan Clifford was the Chargers' only event winner, taking first in both the 100 butterfly (56.87) and the 200 butterfly (2:03.43). The 200 fly time was a B-cut time and puts Clifford back into position to return to the national meet to compete in the event where she was a first-team All-American in 2023. Callie Lucero also took fifth in 2:10.83 and Inez McNichols took sixth in 2:13.64 in the 200 fly as well for the Chargers.
Clifford also swam on four of Hillsdale's five relays in the event. The junior teamed with Elise Mason, Isabel Ondracek and Caroline Holmes to take second in the 800m freestyle relay (7:42.42), and with Holmes, Emmalyse Dickhudt and Lucia Ruchti to finish third in the 400 medley relay (3:52.57). The junior also teamed with Holmes, Alyson Early and Mason to finish sixth in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:34.92 and with Early, Lucero and Ruchti to finish seventh in the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.70).
Hillsdale's Elise Mason also stood out for the Chargers this weekend, with three separate B-cut times. The junior took second in the 1,650 freestyle in a time of 17:06.68, in a race where she also went under the B-cut time for the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 10:20.26. Mason also set a B-cut time in the 500 freestyle, finishing fourth in a time of 5:02.99. Ondracek, Mason's freshman teammate also placed in both events, taking seventh in the 1,650 freestyle (17:40.59) and eighth in the 500 freestyle (5:10.19). Along with swimming with Clifford in several relays, Mason also joined Ruchti, Joanna Burnham and Lucero in finishing seventh in the 200 medley relay (1:49.42) for the Chargers.
Burnham had an excellent day overall for Hillsdale, placing highly in four individual events. She just missed a B-cut time in the 100 breaststroke with a third-place finish in 1:04.78, ahead of teammates Emmalyse Dickhudt in fourth (1:04.97) and Lauren Kamp in eighth (1:07.32). Burnham also took fourth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:25.66, placing ahead of Kamp in sixth (2:27.62) and Duckhudt in eighth (2:31.17) once again, and also placed fourth in the 200 individual medley in 2:07.75) and sixth in the 400 individual medley (4:35.74) as well.
Senior Caroline Holmes was another standout for Hillsdale, placing fifth in the 100 backstroke (58.61) and sixth in the 200 backstroke (2:06.65), and also taking seventh in the 200 freestyle in 1:56.25, just ahead of Clifford in eighth (1:57.45).
With a strong first half of the season in the books and several great times already laid down, Hillsdale heads into the winter break in good shape and ready to continue training and building towards championship season in February. The Chargers will pick back up against outside competition on Saturday, Jan. 13 at Saginaw Valley State in a tri-meet against the Cardinals and Ashland.
Photo Courtesy of Malone Athletics