ELSAH, IL – The men's and women's swim teams were back in action hosting four other teams for the Panther Invitational. Coming off a great night of swims the night before it was going to be hard to keep the energy and effort up. The teams certainly challenged themselves to swim well but they were a little flat and the times were not what was expected. The women had some top placings that led them to a fourth. place finish and the men fought valiantly and finished fifth. It was a tough, tiring day of swimming but something the teams can learn from as they head into the final few weeks of their season.
The meet started with a celebration of the two graduating seniors:
Camille Abadie and
Heather Savoye. Both have made a significant impact on the team in their four years. Abadie has been a strong example of work ethic and determination. Savoye has brought energy, joy and a crazy desire to swim the hard events. They have both supported their teammates through all sorts of challenges over their 4 years and have grown into amazing women. They will be missed.
Once the meet got started, the women swim to a number of Top 3 finishes over the course of the meet and the teams collected a few more "best" swims for the weekend. The women started the meet by placing third in the 200 Medley relay. The relay team of senior captain
Camille Abadie, senior
Heather Savoye, junior captain
Kassie Christensen and sophomore
Avery Hanson swam a 2:09.97.
Abadie then swam to a second place finish in the 100 Back with a 1:06.30. Later on, H Savoye also earned a second place finish with her 2:57.78 in the 200 Fly. She was followed by Christensen in third with a 3:00.43.
The 50 Free saw freshman Lucas Savoye swim a season best time of 26.07. Abadie then took her second second place finish with a 2:22.51 200 Back. H Savoye, continuing a long and tough event list, swam a new lifetime best time of 22:52.71 in the mile.
The women finished up strong with a second place in the 400 Free relay. Abadie, leading off with a season best 1:05.06, followed by another season best from Hanson (1.00.23), junior
Kannon Gill (1:11.64) and anchored by Christensen (1:09.31) swam a 4:26.24.
It was a tough meet for the teams but they are already looking forward to their final meet of the season for some redemption as they travel up to Jacksonville, IL for a dual meet with Illinois College starting at 1:00 pm on Saturday, Jan 28.
