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MC swim teams make history
with highest-ever MWC
finishes
Release Date: February 12, 2007
MONMOUTH, Ill. — Make no mistake –Keith Crawford is thrilled
that his Monmouth College men’s swim team placed second at the Midwest
Conference championships last weekend. The finish is Monmouth’s highest ever
in the MWC in an on-again, off-again history that dates back beyond the
first conference meet in 1936. For his efforts guiding the Fighting Scots,
Crawford earned Men’s Coach of the Year honors at the meet.
But what really had Crawford smiling was a breakthrough meet for
his women’s squad. In their two other appearances at the MWC Championships,
the Scots placed eighth. But Monmouth leaped several teams, including Lake
Forest by a single point, to finish fourth.
“We thought we could finish as high as fourth, but anywhere from
fourth to sixth would have been realistic,” said Crawford of the women.
“Considering Lake Forest has an All-American diver who was going to win both
boards, we knew we’d be behind 52-0 before we even hit the water. I’m
probably happier about overcoming that and finishing fourth than I am the
men’s high finish.”
In each of the past three seasons, the men’s order of finish at
the top was Grinnell, Lake Forest and Lawrence, but the Scots broke up that
triumvirate in a big way, and a major reason was the team’s collective
depth. Although the Foresters had nearly a dozen strong competitors,
Monmouth’s No. 12-17 swimmers outscored their Lake Forest counterparts 95-8.
That allowed the Scots to rack up 811 points and take second place by 51
points over the Foresters.
Fourteen Monmouth swimmers reached a “B” final or higher, and
every team member scored in at least two swims, with the Scots scoring in 49
of 51 swims overall.
The men were led by Kurt Niemeier, who won the 50-yard freestyle
(21.90) and 100-yard freestyle (48.07) and placed third in the 200-yard
freestyle. All three times set school records.
“He makes a huge difference for our team,” said Crawford. “He’s
the sprint freestyler that we’ve never had before.”
When all was said and done, Niemeier walked away with seven
medals and seven school records. As the third highest-scoring individual at
the meet, he earned strong consideration for the prestigious Swimmer of the
Meet honor.
Dan Campione won the 100-yard backstroke (a school-record 55.20),
placed second in the 200-yard backstroke and took fourth in the 200-yard IM.
“It was great to see him finally get an individual title,” said
Crawford of the junior who has been with the program for all three years
following its two-decade layoff.
Matt Travnik was second in the 400-yard IM and Harrison Heilman
placed sixth in that race. Also reaching “A” finals were Jonathan Peterson,
who was third in the 100-yard breaststroke; John Kaiser, who took fourth in
the 100-yard butterfly; Jim Travnik, who placed fourth in the 1650-yard
freestyle; and Josh Van Swol, who was fourth in the 200-yard backstroke and
sixth in the 100-yard backstroke.
Campione, Peterson, Kaiser and Niemeier teamed to set school
records with runner-up finishes in both the 200-yard medley relay (1:40.45)
and the 400-yard medley relay (3:39.18). Niemeier, Kaiser, Matt Travnik and
Campione set school records with third-place finishes in the 200-yard
freestyle relay (1:28.70) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:19.25).
“We’d never been on the medal stand in any relay, but all five
were in the top three this year,” said Crawford.
On the women’s side, Annie Lane made “A” finals in all three of
her individual events, placing third in the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard
butterfly and fourth in the 500-yard freestyle. She set a school record of
5:27.59 in the preliminary round of the latter event.
“Annie gave us a major boost,” said Crawford. “It’s the first
time at the women’s meet where we had someone we knew would place in the top
three of four in her all events, and that’s exactly what she did.”
Sarah Christensen also made an “A” final, taking second in the
100-yard breaststroke in a school-record time of 1:11.51. She also set a new
mark with her seventh-place time of 2:43.04 in the 200-yard breaststroke.
The quartet of Laura Miller, Christensen, Lane and Megan
Wentzlaff was second in the 200-yard medley relay (1:57.17), third in the
400-yard medley relay (4:20.19) and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay
(1:45.39). All three times set school records. Miller, Christensen and Lane
were joined by Heather Plum to set a new mark in the 400-yard freestyle. The
group placed fourth in 3:55.35.
Crawford said Miller helped the team in two big ways. First, her
midseason arrival allowed Crawford to fine-tune his medley relay team, with
Lane and Wentzlaff getting new stroke assignments that ultimately improved
the squad considerably.
“That was definitely a spark heading into Saturday,” said
Crawford of the 400-yard medley relay squad, which became Monmouth’s
first-ever women’s relay to earn a top three MWC medal. Previously, no Scots
relay had placed higher than sixth.
Second, after the Scots had seen some of their slim third-day
cushion over the Foresters erased, Miller got it back with a clutch
performance in the 100-yard freestyle. She trimmed more than two seconds off
her preliminary time, and Monmouth grabbed a seven-point swing in relation
to Lake Forest.
With the teams’ big finishes behind them, Crawford ventured a
look into the program’s future.
“I’m not content with second place –we want to go after
Grinnell,” he said. “What we have to decide now is what we’re going to do to
get to the next level.”
Only one senior –Brian Kura –will be lost, and Crawford praised
the “tremendous leadership” that he provided. Kura also scored in two of his
three swims, helping the team by scoring in both backstroke events.
Besides recruiting, one assignment that Crawford will take on is
the pursuit of a diving program at Monmouth. The Pepper Natatorium was not
built for diving, so Monmouth would have to train and compete off-site in
that specialized competition.
Men's Swimming |
Women's Swimming |
