New talent could lead to new heights for MC swimmers

Release Date: November 4, 2005

MONMOUTH, Ill. — What coach Keith Crawford was able to accomplish in the Monmouth’s return to intercollegiate swimming last year was admirable. His six-member men’s team defeated four schools at the Midwest Conference meet, placing fourth, while the women topped Knox on their way to an eighth-place finish. Judging from the records set last Saturday in Monmouth’s first swim meet of the year, Year Two of the new era of Fighting Scot swimming could be even better.

Early-season meets are typically viewed as a chance for competitors to get their feet wet, so to speak, but the Scots established six new marks Saturday at MC’s Pepper Natatorium, including a men’s relay record that had stood since 1969.

Newcomers had a role in all the top times, and none made a bigger splash than freshman Jenny Lewis. She won two events with school-record performances, chopping nearly two seconds off the 100-yard backstroke mark (1:04.33) and lowering the 200-yard freestyle record to 2:05.89.

Along with another trio of newcomers – freshmen Sarah Christensen and Sarah Sauer and sophomore Stephanie Chun – Lewis was also part of a 400-yard medley record. The group’s time of 4:24.85 broke the old mark by nearly seven seconds.

“I think that’s just the start for her,” said Crawford of Lewis. “I’m excited to see what she can do. She should finish in the top six in the conference in multiple events for us, and she’s a possible contender for the backstroke title.”

Christensen, who prepped at Galesburg High School, added a record in 100-yard breaststroke with her time of 1:14.32. “She fills a big hole for us from a year ago,” said Crawford, whose team lacked point production in the breaststroke and sprint freestyle events. “Look out for her at conference in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke.”

The women’s team posted a 100-90 victory over Rose-Hulman on Saturday but lost 122-77 to the University of Chicago. The men came up on the short end of the score against Rose-Hulman, Chicago and Western Illinois University, but freshman Andrew Wilson stood out with his time of 1:04.03 in the 100-yard breaststroke, breaking the mark of teammate Dan Campione. Wilson was also part of the 400-yard medley team that bested a 36-year-old school record. The team, which also included Campione, freshman Ben Sauer and sophomore Robert Spearing, finished in 3:53.85.

Wilson, like Christensen on the women’s side, fills a void from last year’s team, which was weak in the breaststroke.

“I’m hoping he’ll be able to break Andy Bastman’s 200-yard breaststroke record from the late 1960s,” said Crawford. The Monmouth coach said Ben Sauer, the older brother of Sarah, is “an interesting story. He attended Catholic seminary for two years. Sarah committed to us last December, and that led to us getting Ben.”

Freshmen Eric Pavlacka and James Travnik, who “have the potential to swim in the top six in multiple events at the MWC meet,” allow Crawford to claim “we’ve got close to the best freshman class in the conference from what I’ve seen.”
Of course, the Scots have some returning talent, too, including their lone individual MWC champion from last year, Erik Hoffer. “Erik is the third-leading returning scorer in the conference this year,” said Crawford. “And Dan Campione was the fourth-leading freshman scorer.”

Also competing for the men will be sophomores Ryan Bouwman and Brian Kura.

For the women, Megan Wentzlaff is back after a fifth-place showing at the MWC meet in the 400-yard IM. “What’s great about Megan is that there really isn’t anything she can’t do effectively,” praised Crawford.

His other women’s returners include the program’s lone senior, Ashley Freeman, as well as Erin Jole and Jessica DeMink. Also on the roster are freshman Rebecca Busse, Andrea Dorscheid and Katherine Wunder.

Crawford believes his men’s team now has the talent to considerably close the gap on the conference’s top three programs, and the women hope to improve a few slots, with an eye on finishing as high as fourth.

“Our Achilles heel is diving,” said Crawford, when handicapping the men’s team’s chances of joining Lake Forest, Lawrence and four-time defending champion Grinnell as elite MWC teams. “We could very well beat Lake Forest and Lawrence this year in swimming event, but lose 100 points to each of them by not having divers.”

That trio of schools has won every MWC men’s title since 1977, so for the second-year Scots to outscore any of them in swimming events would be quite a feat.

Of the women’s team, he said, “We’re hoping to move up a couple spots. I don’t know what the rest of the conference brought in, but I would imagine that no one else brought in as good a group of swimmers as we did.”

Crawford will be assisted this year by veteran swim coach Dave Yez, a 1964 Monmouth graduate who also works for the college as a student teacher supervisor.

The Scots will be back in the pool for a pair of meets this weekend. Friday, Monmouth will compete at a meet at Augustana, and they’ll also be in action Saturday at the Pepper Natatorium against Lake Forest, Knox and Webster.

Men's Swimming  |  Women's Swimming