Elsah, IL – The Principia College swimming teams welcomed 6 other teams to their home pool for the Liberal Arts Championships this past weekend. The Championships ran for 3 ½ days with plenty of fast swimming. The teams have been looking forward to this meet all season and were ready to swim fast.
FULL LIBERAL ARTS MEET RESULTS
Day 1 – Finals
The women started off the meet with the 800 Free relay. The team of junior Heather Savoye, senior captain Sanaya Baldauf, junior captain Camille Abadie, and sophomore Kannon Gill swam a 9:23.41 to place 4
th overall. Savoye led off with a new lifetime best time of 2:14.64. Baldauf continued with a lifetime best relay split of 2:15.71. Abadie then went a 2:16.73 and Gill anchored the relay with a 2:36.35.
With 2 new lifetime bests, it was a strong start for the women. Thursday morning sees the whole team in the water with the preliminaries of the first individual events.
Day 2 – Prelims
The women started of the first day of individual swims on a strong note. Savoye continued her fast swimming from the night before with a lifetime best 6:25.27 in the 500 to qualify 9th for tonight's finals. Baldauf swam her way to 6
th place heading into tonight's finals with a 6:04.25, new season best time.
Abadie qualified 11
th for tonight's finals in the 200 IM with a season best time of 2:31.85. Senior
Emmett Wainwright qualified 14
th in his 200 IM with a season best time of 2:12.87 which is oh so close to lifetime best.
In the 50 free, the women qualified 2 for finals and the men qualified 3. Freshman Avery Hanson swam a 27.52 to qualify 14
th for finals while sophomore Kassie Christensen swam a lifetime best 28.08 to qualify in 16
th for finals. Gill added another lifetime best with her 31.87 in the 50.
For the men, all three that swam it, qualified for the finals tonight. Senior captain
Thomas Rauschenberger qualified 10
th with a 23.22. Fellow senior
Tyler Williams swam a 24.58 for a lifetime best time and 14
th place qualification. Freshman
Wyatt Shipp also swam a lifetime best with a 26.30 to qualify 15
th.
With 5 lifetime bests and 9 swimmers qualifying for finals, it was a good morning for the team. With the addition of the 200 Free Relay and 400 Medley relay, the team will have lots of opportunities to continue to swim fast.
Day 2 – Finals
After 2 days of the meet, the women are in 4
th place with 119 points. The men are also in 4
th place but with 76 points. The team a great night session with most swims being faster than the morning and some great relay swims.
The session started off with the 200 Free relays. The women swam to a 1:54.87. Christensen led off with a 28.11, just missing her lifetime best from the morning. Gill swam the second leg and went a lifetime best 31.56. Baldauf swam next with a 28.35 and Hanson anchored in a 26.85 lifetime best relay split. The men went 1:36.70 and had a clean sweep of lifetime best swim. Wainwright got things started with a lifetime best 23.47 50 Free. Then Shipp added a 25.94 lifetime best relay split followed by Williams doing the same with his 24.41. Rauschenberger anchored the relay in his lifetime best split of 22.88.
The individual swims started with the 500 free where Savoye won the consolation heat in a fast 6:09.61 for a new lifetime best time. Baldauf then finished 7
th in Finals with a 6:00.68. In the 200 IM, Abadie swam to an 11
th place time of 2:32.22. Wainwright added another lifetime best time with a 2:10.16 in his 200 IM.
In the 50 free, the team swam to 3 lifetime best times. Christensen continued her strong showing with a 27.79 lifetime best while Hanson when a 27.00 for her lifetime best. Williams added the third lifetime best in the event with his 24.15. Rauschenberger won the consolation heat with a 23.28.
The session concluded with the 400 Medley relay. The team of Abadie, Savoye, Christensen and Hanson swam to 5
th place finish in 4:41.04. Both Savoye and Hanson had lifetime best splits: Savoye in the 100 Breast with her 1:22.15 and Hanson in the 100 Free with her 58.98. The men wrapped up the meet with a 4:00.32 400 Medley relay. Wainwright led off with a 59.09 effort in the 100 Back for a lifetime best. Shipp then swam a lifetime best 100 breast split with a 1:10.11. Rauschenberger then split a 57.62 100 fly and Williams anchored with a 53.53 lifetime best 100 free relay split.
All told the team swam to 16 new lifetime best times and 6 swims that were faster than the morning. It was a good first day of individual efforts. The team is looking to keep the momentum going tomorrow morning with Day 3 prelims.
Day 3 – Prelims
The women maintained their 4
th place after last night's events, while the men also remained in 4
th place heading into day 3. Day 3 saw another day of strong events for the team with expectations of having lots of swimmers qualify for the evening sessions.
The session started with the 400 IM where Savoye and Wainwright both qualified for finals. Savoye swam a new lifetime best with a 5:39.00. Christensen swam a lifetime best in her 100 fly with a 1:12.38 to qualify for a night swim. Rauschenberger also qualified in the 100 Fly with his time of 57.55, that puts him into Finals.
The 200 Free saw Balduaf qualify in 6
th place with her 2:17.94 while Gill qualified in 9
th for the 100 Breast in 1:28.40 which was a new lifetime best time. For the men, both Shipp and Williams qualified for Finals in the 100 Breast with new lifetime best times of 1:09.37 and 1:17.15 respectively. The session ended with the 100 Back where Abadie and Hanson both qualified for Finals with a 1:04.49 and 1:07.43 respectively. Hanson's time was a new lifetime best.
The team had a good session with 6 new lifetime bests and everyone qualifying for a swim at night. The team will look to continue their good night swims from last night and improve their times.
Day 3 – Finals
Again, the session started with the 400 IM events. Savoye finished in 7
th place with a 5:39.21 while Wainwright swam to a new lifetime best of 4:37.76, dropping 10 seconds from his morning swim to finish in 8
th place.
Christensen continued her strong meet with a new lifetime best of 1:11.68 in her 100 Fly to finish in 10
th. Rauschenberger followed that up with a lifetime best swim of his own in the 100 Fly with a 57.25 to finish in 8
th place.
The 200 free saw Baldauf improve her time from the morning to go 2:16.47 and finish in 6
th place. Gill also improved her time from the morning to go 1:27.53 for a new lifetime best and a 9
th place finish in the 100 Breast. Shipp and Williams finished 7
th and 8
th in the men's 100 Breast. Williams dropped 3 seconds from his morning swim to get a new lifetime best of 1:14.06. Both Abadie and Hanson improved their times from the morning with Abadie dropping to 1:04.42 and Hanson to a new lifetime best 1:06.75. The women finished 4
th and 6
th respectively.
The session finished with the 200 Medley relay. The women of Abadie, Savoye, Hanson and Gill swam a 2:07.21 to finish in 6
th place. They were led by lifetime best splits of 36.64 by Savoye in the breast, and 30.98 by Gill in the anchor freestyle leg. The men were paced by 3 lifetime best times to a time of 1:48.67. Wainwright led off with a lifetime best 27.45 50 Back split that put him 9
th all-time at Principia. Shipp then split a lifetime best 31.31 50 Breast split, followed by Rauschenberger's 25.62 lifetime best 50 Fly split. Williams anchored the relay in 24.29, just off his lifetime best.
The women finished the night still in 4
th place but by only 9.5 points. The men also finished the night in 4
th place with 152 points. The teams head into the final day excited and ready to keep swimming well.
Day 4 – Prelims
The final morning session started with the 200 Back where Abadie started well with a 2:17.32 and top 3 seeding for Finals at night. Wainwright then swam a 2:05.71 in his 200 Back which qualified him in 6
th place for Finals but also earned him a new lifetime best and 10
th place on the All-time Top 10 list at Principia.
The 100 Free swan three women swim lifetime bests and qualify to swim at night. Hanson led the way with her lifetime best 57.81. Christenesn swam a 1:04.30 for her lifetime best and Gill went 1:10.11 for her lifetime best. The men made it a clean sweep of lifetime bests when Williams and Rauschenberger both earned best times in their 100 Free swims. Rauschenberger swam a 51.79 to qualify 9
th and Williams swam a 54.39 to qualify 13
th.
The 200 Breast saw Shipp swim to another lifetime best, this time in 2:35.79 to qualify for Finals. Savoye wrapped up the session with a 2:53.24 200 fly for another new lifetime best time.
The team swam to 8 new lifetime bests and once again everyone qualified for a swim at night.
Day 4 – Finals
There was plenty to swim for in the final night of competition – everyone was swimming an individual event and trying to improve their times, the team was close to achieving their goal of total number of lifetime best swims, and the women were looking to hold onto 4
th place in a tight battle with Williams Baptist. So, it was looking like a good night for some fast swimming.
Baldauf got things started in the 1650 Final with a 21:01.87 for an 8
th place finish. Despite her efforts, the women's lead over Williams Baptist dropped to only 4.5 points. Next up, Abadie dove in for the 200 Back Final. She finished in 4
th place with a 2:17.77 and that allowed the women to stretch their led out to 8.5 points. In the men's 200 Back, Wainwright swam a new lifetime best of 2:03.77 to move him up to 6
th all-time at Principia.
The 100 Free saw a trio of women dive in. Christensen improved her time to a 1:03.93 for a new lifetime best. Combined the women scored 18 points to open their led to 22.5 points. Both men swam to lifetime best times in their 100 Free races: Rauschenberger with a 51.29 to finish in 9
th and Williams went a 53.76 to finish in 12
th.
The women didn't have an entry in the 200 Breast Final so Williams Baptist took advantage and closed the gap to only 13.5 points. Shipp represented the team in the men's 200 Breast and finished in 7
th place with a 2:35.86, just off his morning swim time. The 200 Fly was the final individual event of the night and Savoye swam a new lifetime best of 2:51.30 to finish in 5
th place. Williams Baptist had a 3
rd place finisher so the women's lead dropped to 11.5 points. It will come down to the final relay to decide 4
th place at the meet.
The women's 400 Free relay was made up of Baldauf, Savoye, Abadie and Hanson. Savoye and Hanson swam to new lifetime best times of 59.54 and 57.79 respectively to help with women finish in 4:03.16 and 5
th place just one place behind Williams Baptist. That allowed the women to maintain their advantage and finish the meet in 4
th place. It is the women's highest placing at the meet since 2008 when they finished in 3
rd and only the 2
nd time they have finished in the top 4 in the past 20 years.
The men's 400 Free relay was led by a clean sweep of lifetime best swims as Wainwright, Shipp, Williams and Rauschenberger all swim lifetime bests to finish in 3:37.01. Wainwright led off with a 52.26 followed by Shipp with a 59.12 and Williams with a 53.72. Rauschenberger anchored in 51.91. The men would finish in 4
th place, their highest placing in 20 years since placing 3
rd in 2003.
Combined the team would swim to 59 lifetime best times, 24 medals, and 2 new Top 10 placing. Everyone swam well and contributed to great finishes by both teams.
