The Maroons exhibited toughness and motivation in Saturday’s tri-meet against Lake Forest and Olivet Nazarene. The Chicago women came out on top as they finished in first place, defeating their competition by a total of 279 points. The men ended the day in second place as they put up a tough fight against their competition, despite the final result.
Chicago’s women were victorious over Lake Forest 295–115 and Olivet Nazarene 295–196. On the other side, the men defeated Lake Forest 209–148 and lost to Olivet Nazarene 260–209. The diving team refused to slack off as well, as first-year Anna Girlich and second-year Monica Kieff posted NCAA provisional qualifying marks. With many bruises and bumps, eventful meets in the past, and intense meets coming up, the team is swimming into high gear as they push forward.
The women’s team raced to nine victories on the day. Fourth-year Karen Chu won a couple of freestyle events during the meet and finished first in both the 200-meter freestyle (2:11.00) and the 400-meter freestyle (4:34.64). In addition, third-year Maya Scheidl contributed to the winning of the 200-meter freestyle relay team and snatched first in the 50-meter freestyle (27.37). First-years Cecile Kurman-Browning and Christina Cheng also ended up with the best times for the 100-meter freestyle (1:01.91).
The men achieved one win for the night in the 200-meter freestyle relay, which consisted of fourth-year Thomas Meek, third-year Jonathan Simoneau, fourth-year Andrew Homere, and fourth-year Matthew Veldman. Simoneau placed in the top two for three of his events. He swam part of the 200-meter freestyle relay and came second in the 200-meter medley relay (1:47.62) as well as the 200-meter freestyle (2:00.27). Fourth-year James Taylor placed second for the 200-meter medley relay and the 100-meter breaststroke (1:08.31). Furthermore, second-year diver Dean Boures obtained second place on the one-meter (263.60) and the three-meter (275.45) boards.
When asked about the competition against Lake Forest and Olivet Nazarene, first-year Naomy Grand’Pierre said, “Last meet went well! It was tough because it was a short course meters pool, but both the women’s and men’s 200 free relay broke the pool records, so that was exciting!”
Regarding the team’s personal goals and achievements, Grand’Pierre said, “Personally, I am working extra hard because we only have a few hard practices left so both me and the team are making these last hard practices count.”
As for post-season, Grand’Pierre states, “I think going into championships we look really good as a team and will bring some serious competition and I am looking forward to seeing how well we do. Jason and Nick have prepared us well and with the season coming to an end I am excited to see our hard work pay off.”
The diving Maroons will be preparing and working hard for the Illinois-Chicago Diving Invite this Saturday, which will take place at UIC. The swimming teams get a break as they will not have a meet until the Midwest Invitational on February 12.
