The Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving Meet is this weekend. The meet goes from February 18th - 20th. Stay up to date with results by "clicking here". Make sure to come back for daily updates.

This past weekend, the Scarlet Hawks swimming and diving team travelled to Principia College to compete in the three day prelim-final Liberal Arts Championship meet. Some of the team members tapered for the meet in an attempt to achieve National qualifying cuts, and many great races were seen from the IIT swimmers (and also great dives from the divers). Here is a recap of each day from the meet.

Day 1 - February 18th

The women's 200 freestyle relay of freshman Victoria Masney and sophomores Melanie Koto, Morgan Curran and Andrea Zuniga took 4th with a time of 1:43.19. The men's 200 freestyle relay took 3rd, with the team of junior Mark Callan, freshman Eric Grunden, senior Joe Taylor, and junior Max Ramminger with a time of 1:26.70. In the 500 yard freestyle, Zuniga took 2nd with a time of 5:42.90, and for the men's team sophomore Keiji Halloway took 12th, qualifying for Nationals with a time of 5:02.11, and Rosenfeld took 14th with a 5:14.59.

Curran swam to a 5th place finish in the 200 yard IM for the women's team, with a time of 2:15.11. On the men's side, freshman Eric Grunden took 3rd with a time of 2:00.30, and senior Jay Park and freshman Michael Keane took 10th and 12th, with times of 2:03.15 and 2:04.81 respectively. In the 50 yard freestyle, Koto and sophomore Julia Duarte took 12th and 15th, with times of 25.95 and 27.29, and Masney won the event, finishing in a 24.17, which is also a new team record! Ramminger took 2nd for the men's team with a 20.92, and Taylor, Lyman and Brady also placed, taking 9th, 11th and 16th, with times of 21.93, 22.09 and 22.56.

For men's 1 meter diving, freshman Ian McNair maintained his first place ranking, finishing with a score of 415.10. His best dive scored 7s and 7 1/2s. Sophomore Tom Lord and junior Jeff Reilly took 4th and 5th, with scores of 310.50 and 300.10.

In the 400 yard medley relay, the women's team of Zuniga, Duarte, Masney and Koto swam to a 2nd place finish with a final time of 4:06.50, just three seconds from the team record. The men's team of Rosenfeld, Park, Taylor and Ramminger finished 3rd, with a final time of 3:35.05.

At the end of the first day, both the women's team was holding a 3rd place spot out of 10, and the men's team was also 3rd, out of 8.

Day 2 - February 19th

The divers got the day off, but the swimmers returned to the pool geared up and ready for more remarkable swims. Starting off the second day of swims was the women's 200 yard medley relay of Zuniga, Duarte, Masney and Koto, who finished 4th with a time of 1:54.78. The men's relay of Rosenfeld, Park, Taylor and Ramminger took 2nd, finishing with a 1:35.98, just two seconds off of the team record. In the 400 yard IM, Curran had a killer swim, taking 3rd and dropping 8 seconds from her morning swim to go a 4:45.50, and junior Joe Muchna took 4th, with a final time of 4:36.68.

Masney killed everyone in the 100 yard butterfly, taking 1st with a time of 57.00, and gaining another new team record. Sophomore Lauren Fast placed 15th with a time of 1:09.18. For the men's team, Taylor took 2nd with a 50.31, Halloway took 6th with a time of 53.13, and Callan swam to a 16th place finish with a 55.74. In the 200 yard freestyle, Koto finished 3rd with a time of 2:00.57, and Zuniga took 9th, finishing in a 2:06.77. For the men's team, junior Tomasz Chojnacki took 10th with a National qualifying time of 1:50.50, senior Greg Herbert took 12th with a 1:52.71, and Lyman took 13th with a 1:53.85. Duarte took 3rd in the women's 100 yard breaststroke, with a time of 1:10.97. Ramminger also finished 3rd for the men's team, swimming the event in a 59.76, followed by Grunden in 5th with a 1:01.00. Park took 11th with a 1:01.83, and Keane took 12th with a National qualifying time of 1:02.84, followed by freshman Jeff Grindel in 15th with a 1:05.07. In the 100 yard backstroke, Rosenfeld finished 5th for the men's team, with a blazing time of 54.67, just two seconds from the team record.

Finishing up the day, the women's 800 freestyle relay of Curran, Duarte, freshman Nicole Valio and Fast took 7th with a time of 9:05.68, and the men's team of Herbert, Muchna, Park and Keane finished 4th with a time of 7:33.12. At the end of day 2, both teams were still holding a 3rd place spot.

Day 3 - February 20th

In the men's mile, Herbert placed 12th, with a National qualifying time of 18:20.60, and sophomore Ryan Tapak took 14th with a time of 18:50.06. Taking the swims a bit shorter, the 200 yard backstroke saw Zuniga taking 9th with a final time of 2:19.82, and on the men's side, Rosenfeld finished in 5th place, with a 2:01.46, and Tapak swam to a 16th place finish with a 2:12.98 .

In the 100 yard freestyle, Masney was at it again, out touching Luther College's Rachel ‘the beast' Bruns by 0.20 seconds for 1st, finishing with a blazing final time of 52.23, also gaining another new team record. Koto followed in 8th with a 56.39. Ramminger also took 1st for the men's team with a 46.11, and Taylor and Callan also placed, finishing 9th and 15th, with respective times of 47.76 and 50.36.

Curran and Duarte took 4th and 8th with times of 2:31.77 and 2:38.74 in the 200 yard breaststroke. Park took 5th for the men's team with a 2:16.53, followed by Grunden in 6th with a 2:17.93. Also placing for the men's team were Keane in 13th with a final time of 2:21.80 and Grindel in 14th with a National qualifying time of 2:23.08. In the 200 yard butterfly, Fast swam to a 13th place finish with a final time of 2:43.55. Halloway finished 4th on the men's side, with a time of 1:58.69.

In men's 3 meter diving, McNair moved into a 3rd place finish, with a final score of 451.15. Lord finished 7th, with a score of 285.35. Finishing up the evening, the women's 400 yard freestyle relay of Koto, Zuniga, Curran and Masney destroyed their 4th place seed, taking 2nd overall with a time of 3:42.94, with Masney busting out a 51.12 split in her anchoring leg. The men's team of Grunden, Chojnacki, Taylor and Ramminger finished 3rd in a 3:12.46.

Both teams maintained their 3rd place spots, with the women's team scoring 346 points overall, and the men's team scoring 533. In addition to the two 3rd place awards, Masney took home the female swimmer of the meet award, and diving coach Ryan Nelson took home the men's diving coach of the meet award.

The team now has 5 female swimmers and 14 male swimmers qualified for Nationals, and one male diver. The National meet will be held by Lindenwood University at the St. Peters Rec Plex next weekend, March 3rd through 6th.