Scots Sports
10 February 2006
Volume 118, Number 12
Swimmers
look to play ‘Cinderella’
Midwest Conference Championships
by Dustin Looney
Courier Staff
Although the Fighting Scots' swim team was organized just last year, they are already competitive with other schools that have established swim teams. The proof is in the pudding, or in this case, in the swimming pool, as the men's team has already knocked off some highly regarded swim teams from Augustana College and Illinois Wesleyan.
In the Illinois Wesleyan match, for example, the men swam so well that they broke nearly every school record in just that one meet
Record setting meets aside, both the men's and the women's teams look to turn their current mediocre season into one to remember as they compete in the MWC Championship this weekend. The tournament will include every college in the Midwest Conference except Illinois College, which does not yet have a swim team.
The Swimming Scotsmen, who placed fourth out of eight teams in last year's tournament, and the Lady Swimming Scots, who finished eighth out of nine entrants, will be competing at Lawrence University, in Appelton, WI. beginning this Friday morning. After Friday's preliminary round, the swimmers will also compete on Saturday and Sunday.
Keeping a level-headed, realistic approach to the season, MC's coach, Keith Crawford, is focusing more on moral victories than actually winning the MWC championship this time around.
"We
are looking to maximize each individual's performance, and we hope
to see a few individual conference champions," said Crawford. Who
knows, maybe they will even break a few more school records.
The Lady Scots will be led by Sarah Christensen and Megan Wentzlaff, and the men's team will be looking to Dan Campione, Andrew Wilson, and Eric Pavlacka to help MC make a splash in the tournament.
Being the newest conference member to compete in the MWC Swimming Championship, the Swimming Scots will look to play a "Cinderella" role and upset other conference foes.
Anything can happen in a tournament, and freshman swimmer Katherine Wunder summed up her experience this year with an optimistic commentary: "We've had a really great season with some truly wonderful swimmers and hope to end with a bang at conference." Best of luck to the MC swimmers."
