Monmouth’s high hopes for MWC Championship

By: Ian Van Anden
Sports Editor

The Monmouth College Fighting Scots men’s swimming team trounced the Coe College Kohawks 162 to 33 Friday, Jan. 26, at the Pepper Natatorium in Monmouth’s Huff Athletic Center. Meanwhile, the Monmouth College Fighting Scots women’s swimming team narrowly missed a victory over the Kohawks 97 to 92.

In the men’s 200-yard medley relay, a team consisting of junior Dan Campione, freshmen Jonathan Peterson, John Kaiser and Kurt Niemeier posted a time of 1:43.17, which proved good enough to beat Coe by nearly seven seconds.

The Scots were also triumphant in the other men’s relay event, the 200-yard freestyle relay. A team of sophomore Eric Pavlacka, senior Brian Kura and freshmen Joe Schwinger and Matt Travnik finished the event in a time of 1:35.98.

Pavlacka also prevailed in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:04.24. In the 100- and 200-freestyle, Niemeier captured first with times of 49.77 and 1:49.46, respectively. Campione also finished first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.19, followed closely by Kaiser with a time of 23.55. Travnik finished first in the 200-yard individual medley (2:09.59) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:16.89) events.

Campione and Kaiser again finished one and two in the men’s 100-yard butterfly. This time it was Kaiser finishing first, in a time of 57.18 seconds. Campione was right behind him, finishing in 57.26 seconds.

Freshmen Josh Van Swol and Harrison Heilman finished second and third, respectively in the 100-yard backstroke. Van Swol was timed at 59.70 and Heilman in 1:01.32. Heilman also looked good in the 100-yard breaststroke, where he finished second behind teammate Peterson. Peterson came in at a time of 1:03.29, followed by Heilman at 1:09.04.

The women fought their way through the entire meet and, despite losing out by just three at the end, looked very strong heading into the conference championship meet. In the 200-yard medley relay, the Scots won by more than seven seconds. The team was comprised of junior Megan Wentzlaff, sophomore Sarah Christensen and freshmen Anne Lane and Heather Plum.

In the 200-yard freestyle, Lane again found herself earning first place honors, winning the event by nearly eight seconds with her time of 2:02.27. She had yet another first place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. Again, she dominated her competition, winning the event by three seconds flat.

Wentzlaff and junior teammate Jessica DeMink finished first and third, respectively, in the 200-yard individual medley event. Wentzlaff was timed in the event at 2:26.29, while DeMink finished in 2:38.84.

DeMink was also on the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay team that placed second. She was joined by sophomore Andrea Dorscheid and freshmen Laura Miller and Meaghan Gritzenbach.

Plum earned herself a win the 500-yard freestyle with her time of 5:46.09. She was joined by Wentzlaff, who finished third in the event with a time of 5:53.82.

Next on Monmouth’s schedule is the Midwest Conference championship on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 9-11. The Scots have a week to rest to prepare for their biggest meet of the year, which will be held at Grinnell College.

Dorscheid is looking forward to the conference meet, saying, “our [women] only lost by four points, so I am guessing with a little extra rest, hard work and determination, we can swim like champs at conference.”

Expectations for the conference meet are high of the men’s team, and Schwinger said, “We are going to turn some heads and set a tone for next year.” The expectations for the women are equally high. Plum commented that, “the team has put in a lot of hard work, and I expect that the team will finish in the top half of the conference. I think the girls have had a good season so far, and that will carry over to the last meet of the season.”
With their confidence high, the Scots will roll into Grinnell looking to “turn heads and set the tone” on Friday, Feb. 9.