The Monmouth College swim teams both sit in sixth place after the first full day of competition at the Midwest Conference Championships. The Monmouth women turned in another four Top-10 swims in school history on Friday as individual competition got underway.
WOMEN
Senior
Nicole Fitch (Marengo, Illinois) set the tone for the day as she set a PR and moved into the eighth slot in school history in the 50 free in the morning prelims. Her swim of 26.15 qualified for the finals as did
Cally Tate (Monmouth, Illinois) in the event. In the B-finals, Tate earned four points with a 15th place finish in 25.84 and Fitch grabbed two points in 17th place in 26.21.
Addie Smith (Monmouth, Illinois) also set a PR in the prelims with a time of 26.92.
Caitlyn Stewart (Monmouth, Illinois) qualified for the A-Final in the 500 freestyle and delivered a new PR and the second-best time in school history. Her finals time of 5:23.09 was a PR by 0.16 and was two seconds better than her morning swim. Stewart finished in seventh place and earned 14 points.
Allie Warren (Galesburg, Illinois) set a PR in the 200 IM final and earned seven points with a 12th place finish. Her time of 2:17.09 ranks fourth in school history.
The women's 200 yard freestyle team of Tate, Fitch,
Nora Collins (Hopedale, Illinois) and
Addie Zamora (Arma, Kansas) finished sixth in 1:43.86, the sixth best time in school history.
With 121 points the Scots are in sixth place, nine points behind Illinois College. Grinnell is in first place with 377 points.
MEN
The men had two swimmers reach the finals on Friday, both in the 50 freestyle.
Bucket Youvan (Rochester, Indiana) earned two points as he finished in 17th place in 22.27 and
Tariq McLarty (South Holland, Illinois) picked up one point in 18th place with a time of 22.64.
In the men's 200 freestyle relay, the Scots picked up 30 points with a sixth place finish. McLary,
Luke Foster (Galesburg, Illinois),
Ethan Main (Oneida, Illinois) and Youvan combined for a time of 1:30.46, just outside the all-time top 10 for the event.
The Scots are in sixth place with 93 points, 40 behind Illinois College. Grinnell leads with 346.5 points.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The MWC Championships continue on Saturday with the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 400 medley relay…The prelims are at 10 a.m. with the top nine in each event advancing to the finals at 5:30 p.m.
