GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah women's swimming team clinched a home victory, 152-48, over visiting Stevenson University on Saturday afternoon in Fredericksen Natatorium. Overall, the Falcons had swimmers place first in eleven total events, improving to 7-0 all-time opposite the Mustangs.
Messiah had seven different competitors notch first-place finishes in individual events, with three different Falcons earning a pair of top finishes. Freshman
Sophie Schulze earned first-place finishes in the 50 yard freestyle (26.27) and the 100 yard freestyle (56.48). In both events, Schulze edged out fellow Messiah teammates. The 50 yard freestyle featured a second-place finish from junior
Libby Gorske (27.65), as the 100 yard freestyle saw freshman
Abigail Soerens touch second with a time 57.06, nearly a half-second shy of Schulze.
Schulze and Soerens were the first two legs of the first-place 200 yard medley relay team, as sophomore
Katelyn Boyce and freshman
Lainey Flanagan rounded off the squad to earn a top time 1:57.91. Messiah placed a team in second (1:59.77), composed of senior
Maelyn Elder, freshman
Evangeline Soerens, senior
Molly Elspas, and junior
Rachel Bruns.
Flanagan took home two first-place finishes for the Falcons. The freshman touched first in the 200 yard freestyle (2:04.48) and topped all competition in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:40.51. Elder joined Flanagan in contributing a pair of top finishes, touching first in the 100 yard backstroke (1:05.77) and the 200 yard backstroke (2:22.14).
The reigning MAC Rookie of the Year, Boyce, turned in a first-place finish in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 2:24.30. Joining Boyce in contributing top finishes included
Caitlin Ross in the 100 yard freestyle (11:44.75), A. Soerens in the 100 yard breaststroke (1:10.08), and E. Soerens in the 200 yard breaststroke (2:37.06).
Messiah turned in a handful of quality second-place finishes to complement its first-place finishes. Eslpas finished behind Elder in the 100 yard backstroke by just one-hundredth of a second (1:05.78), while Bruns touched second in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:12.91. Other notable second-place finishes included junior
Libby Gorske in the in the 200 yard backstroke (2:22.14) and the 50 yard freestyle (27.65), Ross in the 200 yard butterfly (2:32.33), Bruns in the 200 yard breaststroke (2:40.78), and E. Soerens in the 200 yard freestyle (2:04.48).
The Falcons competed well throughout the whole meet, topping their competition for the second-consecutive time this season after placing first in the season-opening MAC Virtual Meet (Mar. 6).
Messiah will be back in action next Saturday, Mar. 27, when they host Albright College at 1:00 p.m. in Fredericksen Natatorium.
