New era begins with high finish

Release Date: February 16, 2005

Like all sports, swimming can come down to the little things. Late on the third day of the Midwest Conference Swimming Championships at Grinnell, Iowa, Fighting Scots swim coach Keith Crawford said a minor event helped his men’s team reach a major goal.

In their first MWC swim meet since 1982, Crawford had hoped the men could place fourth, edging Beloit and Carroll in the process. Those two schools, especially Beloit, were still in the Scots’ way late in the meet as freshman Ryan Bouwman (Lansing, IL/Thornton Fractional South) prepared to compete in the consolation final of the 200-yard butterfly against two Buccaneer swimmers.

“I told Ryan, ‘You’ve got to get me one guy,’” said Crawford.

That would be no small feat, as both Beloit swimmers were at least six seconds faster than Bouwman in the prelims. It became even more difficult when Bouwman fell behind by a body length against Beloit’s slower swimmer.

But the freshman rallied, clipping 8.52 seconds off his prelim time and beating the second Buccaneer. When Monmouth topped Beloit by two spots in the next and final event, the 400-yard freestyle, the Scots had edged out the Bucs by one point, 188-187, for fourth place at the meet, which was won by Grinnell.

“I’m pretty pleased for Year One,” said Crawford, who led a men’s team with just six swimmers to the school’s best finish since the 1969 MWC meet. “We were a first-year program, but we didn’t look like a first-year program. I had more than one person tell me that we were the most ready-to-race first-year program they’d seen.”

Crawford noted that the Scots scored points in 16 of the 18 men’s events. “It was certainly a total team effort,” he said.

Every point turned out to be vital, and the swimmer who accumulated the most was freshman Erik Hoffer (Palos Hills, IL/Stagg). Hoffer swam a leg on the meet-clinching relay team, but he also had some great individual performances, including a conference championship in the 1650-yard freestyle (a school-record 17:09.97). Hoffer so dominated that race that he could have gotten out of the pool and dried off before the runner-up arrived more than 30 seconds later.

“That was pretty cool. It really set the tone for the evening,” said Crawford of Hoffer’s victory, which took nine seconds off his previous record. “It was over after about 200 yards. The only question became ‘How fast is he going to go?’”

Hoffer added a third-place swim in the 500-yard freestyle (4:55.40), and he took fourth in the 400-yard IM (a school-record 4:29.37).

Another standout was freshman Daniel Campione (Blue Island, IL/St. Rita), who set school records in all three of his championship final swims. He placed fourth in the 100-yard backstroke (57.64), fifth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:51.63) and sixth in the 200-yard backstroke (2:06.64).

The other individual men’s record was set by Brandon Sahlhoff (Bremen, IN/HS) in the 100-yard butterfly (57.76). Campione, Hoffer, Sahlhoff and freshman Robert Spearing (River Grove, IL/East Leyden) set a new mark in the meet-ending 400-yard freestyle relay (3:27.07), while Campione, Hoffer, Sahlhoff and Brian Kura (Park Ridge, IL/Maine South) combined to break the 200-yard medley relay record with their time of 1:45.90.

In another key swim, the latter group edged Beloit by nine-hundredths of a second in the 400-yard medley relay to place fourth.

“Those four guys put together four very good swims in the 400 medley,” praised Crawford.

The women’s team made a strong run at Ripon, but fell eight points short to take eighth place at the nine-team meet, which was also won by Grinnell. Two swimmers, freshmen Megan Wentzlaff (Mokena, IL/Lincoln-Way East) and Lynn Lanier (Schaumburg, IL/Hoffman Estates) reached championship finals, with Wentzlaff placing fifth in the 400-yard IM (a school-record 4:59.88) and Lanier taking sixth in the 100-yard freestyle (a school-record 56.71).

Wentzlaff entered the meet with a PR of 5:06 and cut it to 5:03 in the prelims before breaking the 5:00 barrier in the final. She also cut a whopping 38 seconds off her time as she posted a new mark in the 1650-yard freestyle (19:22.03).

“That was another great effort for Megan and was a very gutsy swim,” said Crawford.

Speaking of guts, Crawford also had high praise for Lanier, who battled through illness the first two days of the meet and still turned in quality times.

“She showed a lot of heart and a lot of grit,” he said. “She really hung in there instead of feeling sorry for herself.”

Other women’s records were set by freshman Shana Smith (Canton, IL/HS) in the 100-yard backstroke (1:06.28) and 200-yard backstroke (2:21.40), Lanier in the 500-yard freestyle (5:33.96) and Wentzlaff in the 200-yard IM (2:20.39).

That trio wasn’t done setting records, though, as they each swam on four … count ‘em, FOUR … relay teams that set new MC marks. They were joined by freshman Cassandra Quast (Belvidere, IL/HS) for the 800-yard freestyle (8:50.36); by junior Ashley Freeman (Chicago, IL/Maria) for the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.76) and 400-yard freestyle (3:57.53); and by sophomore Erin Jole (Belvidere, IL/HS) for the 400-yard medley (4:31.43).

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