ELSAH, IL – The Principia college men's and women's swim teams dove back into competition when they hosted 3 other teams for the Sprint Invitational. The Invite is made of mostly short events that are not swum regularly (50s of the strokes, 100 IM and 100 Relays). It is a short fun way to get the competitive juices flowing again. The women finished third on the backs of 8 "best" swims, while the men finished fourth with 4 "best" swims. Every team member contributed to the "bests" and it was a fun way to get the weekend started.
After the fun 100 Medley relay to lead off the meet (where the women placed third), senior captain
Camille Abadie and junior
Kannon Gill dove in for the 200 Free. Abadie would finish third with a 2:17.77 while Gill swam a new lifetime best 2:36.76.
For the men, freshman
Luc Savoye finally started to put together some great pacing for his 200 Free when he went a season best 2:15.02.
In the 50 free, sophomore
Avery Hanson swam a 27.44 for second place finish while junior captain
Kassie Christensen swam a 29.05 for fifth place finish. Sophomore
James Ives swam to a season best time of 34.69 in his 50 Free. The 100 IM saw Abadie win the event in exciting fashion as she came from behind in the last 12 ½ yards to win in 1:11.00. Her time as a new lifetime best.
After a break for diving the women were back in the water for the 50 Fly. Christensen and Hanson were gunning for some fast times and they didn't disappoint. Christensen went a new lifetime best 30.51 for a third place finish. Hanson went a 29.86 for a second place finish and is now seventh all-time at Principia in the event.
The 100 Free saw another close finish for the win as senior
Heather Savoye battled it out all the way to the wall. She came up .2 short of the win but still scored a new in-season lifetime best time of 1:03.79. Gill, swimming exhibition, swam a new lifetime best for herself with her 1:10.06. L Savoye continued his fast swimming dropping a whopping 2 seconds in his 100 Free to go 57.80 and score his first collegiate victory in the event. Ives also swam a season best in his 100 Free going 1:19.50.
The 50 Back saw Abadie claim another third place with a season best 31.27. Fellow senior H Savoye picked up a lifetime best in the 50 Breast with her 37.92.
The meet wrapped up with a fun and fast 100 Free relay where the women went 52.83.
All told, 12 "best" swims made for some fun and fast swimming.
The teams will be back in action on Saturday as they host the same teams plus Millikin University for the Panther Invitational starting at 1pm.
