Jacksonville, ILL.—The Principia College Men's Swimming team traveled on Saturday to Illinois College again in order to compete in a dual meet against them. This meet is the team's last official meet, so they definitely took advantage of the competition and swam fast.
There were many strong swims that occurred at this meet. Junior captain
Garrett Barner, sophomore
Walker Hannigan, and freshman
Josh Williams all gained bests from this meet leading the team to 14 bests total. The team's goal is 11 bests, so this was definitely broken due to their motivation to race and to do their best. Barner gained two season bests in his 200 Free (2:01.03) and his 50 Free Relay split (24.34). Hannigan had a season, unshaved lifetime, and lifetime best in both his 100 Free (53.87) and his 50 Fly-Relay split (26.04). In addition, Hannigan also had a season and unshaved lifetime best in his 50 Free Relay split (23.39). Lastly, Williams grabbed two more season bests in his 100 Back (1:08.93) and 50 Free Relay split (26.26).
Other than the team's individual swims, there was a unique opportunity that the team was able to compete in. At the end of the meet, the last relay was a coed relay where there had to be two men and two women in each one. This was a fun race that was scored in the meet. The two teams that Principia put up definitely got some individuals gearing to go for some friendly competition together. There were many bests that came out of this race because the individuals were close competitors and really had to push themselves to beat each other or catch each other!
After this exciting race, the team enjoyed their Jimmy Johns and then headed home. The team wants to give a shout out to all the fans that came and were grateful to see the track team pop in and out of the meet when they didn't have to race!
Overall, as the team prepares for Liberal Arts these coming weeks, the times are going to be all over the place due to taper, so where their times are now is where they need to be. Taper has begun, which is the final phase of the swimming season and is an exciting time for the swimmers.
Up Next:
The Men's Swimming team will be heading out to Decorah, IA in order to participate in Liberal Arts, which is the end championship meet. The meet will take place February 14
th-17
th.
