MAC Championship Homepage  |  Complete Results

YORK, Pa. – Messiah women's swimming scored more than 600 points and earned their first-ever NCAA Division III B-Cut in a relay to highlight a fifth-straight MAC Championship on Sunday night. The Falcons also swept the individual awards with Kaylee Hollenbach, Kaitlin Wingert, and Katie McComb taking home Rookie of the Year, Swimmer of the Year, and Coach of the Year honors, respectively.
 
The honor for Wingert is her second in as many years, and she became the first Falcon in program history to garner the honor in two different seasons. The award this year came after she earned 60 individual points by winning gold in the 50 Free, 200 Free, and 100 Free, and also contributing to Messiah's relay gold in the 200 Medley, 400 Medley, 200 Free, and 400 Free. The 400 Free Relay—the final event of the four-day weekend—earned a time of 3:39.80 which was both a program record and MAC Championships record, as well as good for the College's first-ever NCAA Relay B-Cut.
 
Wingert's outstanding weekend also solidified her place among the greatest swimmers in conference history, as she now holds 11 individual gold medals, one individual silver medal, 14 relay gold medals, one relay silver medal, and one relay bronze medal across her four seasons. As an individual, Kaitlin won the 200 Free in every season, and she won both the 100 Free and 200 IM three times apiece. This year's win in the 50 Free was her first win in her first career attempt at MACs.
 
For Katie McComb, the Coach of the Year honor comes in her first campaign with the Falcons. She has kept Messiah at the top of the MAC following Nancy Luley's nine-year run that ended with four-straight titles. This year's team scored 619.5 points, good for third-most in program history at the MAC Championships. The Falcons' six individual gold medals is second-most all-time behind the seven golds earned by Falcons in 2016.
 
The Falcons' B-Cut time in the 400 Free Relay was their third B-Cut of the night, as both Kaylee Hollenbach (200 Back) and Wingert (100 Free) earned cuts of their own earlier in the evening. Coupled with Cassie Cotton's B-Cut in the 100 Fly on Saturday and Wingert's B-Cut in the 50 Free, this marks the most-ever cuts earned by Messiah in a single season.

Saturday, Feb. 17
The Messiah College women's swimming team competed in day three of MAC Championships and continued the momentum from the first two nights. Messiah currently holds a sizable lead over the rest of the competition with 427.5 total points, over 100 more than second-place Widener (318.5). On the evening, the Falcons earned four of the possible six gold medals.

Kaylee Hollenbach, Brittany Pond, Cassie Cotton, and Kaitlin Wingert started the night off on the right foot with gold in the 200 Free Relay, setting a new program record and MAC record with a time of 1:35.77. The foursome broke the previous record, set by Messiah in 2016, that consisted of Cotton and Wingert as well, along with Tara Freeman and Emily Reale.

Cotton would claim her second gold medal of the night a few events later, blowing past the competition in the 100 Fly to achieve an NCAA B-Cut time of 56.33. The mark is also a program record in the event, and broke the previous record that was set by Cotton in the prelims this morning by just 0.02 seconds. Kaitlyn Wingert continued her dominance of the MAC, winning her fourth-straight gold in the 200 Free with a time of 1:53.73. In the final race of the night, Kaylee Hollenbach enjoyed her first individual MAC championship gold in the 100 Back, finishing with a program record time of 57.25.

Six other Messiah women swam in finals this evening, including Joelle Williamson (4th, 100 Back), Brittany Pond (5th, 200 Free), Maelyn Elder (5th, 400 IM), Nicea McCabe (6th, 100 Breast), Sarah Woods (7th, 100 Breast), and Britta Heath (8th, 400 IM).

Friday, February 16
Messiah started the night off strong with a brilliant performance in the 400 Medley Relay finishing with a time of 3:55.02. That time broke both the Messiah program record and MAC record by over two seconds. They are currently still in first place with 202 points, a solid 22.5 points ahead of their closest competitor Widener University (180.5).

The Falcons continued their dominance picking up another gold and two silvers to cap off the night. Kaitlin Wingert did not disappoint in the 50 Free swimming an impressive time of 23.57 which broke the MAC record. Not only that, the time is considered a NCAA B-Cut and puts her in a great position to be invited to the 2018 NCAA Swimming Championships. Last year's invite time for this event was 23.59.

Cassie Cotton swam very well in the 50 Free too which made it the most exciting race of the night as she placed second behind Wingert with a time of 23.78 which also broke last year's MAC record. Finally in the 200 IM, Kaylee Hollenbach earned a second place finish and Second Team All-MAC honors by finishing with a time of 2:10.69.

Thursday February 15
After tonight's events they are currently in first place with 70 points ahead of Widener and Arcadia who are tied for second with 62 points. The team started things strong with a gold in the 200 Medley Relay.
 
In the 200 Medley Relay, Kaylee Hollenbach swam the first leg for Messiah in a strong time of 26.95, a whole .40 seconds faster than her competitor from Stevenson. From there Nicea McCabe swam a steady leg but Cassie Cotton had to make up some ground and did just that with a third leg time of 25.14 to get the Falcons back on track. Kaitlin Wingert than finished out the race with a final leg time of 23.85 to help earn the first place win.

The Falcons also took fourth in the 800 Freestyle Relay with a time of 8:03.46.


Follow below to see All-MAC First and Second Team Honors and Messiah records at the 2017 MAC Championships!
Notes:
        1st place is First Team All-MAC; 2nd place is Second Team All-MAC; 3rd place is Third Team All-MAC
        A second "X" under Messiah record column indicates MAC Championships Record.

 

Event No.	Event Name	Swimmer(s)	Time (Place)	First Team	Second Team	Season Record	Messiah Record
2	200 Medley Relay	Kaylee Hollenbach, Nicea McCabe, Cassie Cotton, Kaitlin Wingert	1:46.93 (1)	X		X	XX
6	400 Medley Relay	Kaylee Hollenbach, Shannon Hogan, Cassie Cotton, Kaitlin Wingert	3:55.02 (1)	X		X	XX
10	200 IM	Kaylee Hollenbach	2:10.69 (2)		X	X
12	50 Free	Kaitlin Wingert Cassie Cotton	23.57 (1) 23.78 (2)	X	X	X X	XX
14	200 Free Relay	Kaylee Hollenbach, Brittany Pond, Cassie Cotton, Kaitlin Wingert	1:35.77 (1)	X		X	XX
18	100 Fly	Cassie Cotton	56.33 (1)	X		X	X
20	200 Free	Kaitlin Wingert	1:53.73 (1)	X
24	100 Back	Kaylee Hollenbach	57.25 (1)	X		X	X
28	200 Back	Kaylee Hollenbach	2:03.53 (1)	X			X
30	100 Free	Kaitlin Wingert Cassie Cotton	50.65 (1) 52.62 (2)	X -	- X	- -	XX -
36	400 Free Relay	Cassie Cotton, Brittany Pond, Kaylee Hollenbach, Kaitlin Wingert	3:39.80 (1)	X	-	-	XX

 

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