Women’s swimming team finishes second in quad meet

January 18 2018
This past weekend the Wheaton Women’s Swim team had their first meet of 2018 against Lake Forest College, Kalamazoo College, and the quad meet host: Hope College. On Saturday, Jan. 13, the Thunder got second place with 504 points and finished behind Hope’s 589 points.
The women’s 400-yard freestyle relay team, comprised of seniors Brooke Barnes and Kristen Garner and sophomores Maggie Franke and Ashley Bowen, also claimed first place this past weekend, finishing at 3:44.19. The women’s 400-yard medley relay claimed second (4:16.38), finishing just behind Hope College. The medley relay team was made up of Garner, freshman Kirsten Peters and sophomores Michaela Sandeno and Liz George.
Barnes went on to claim two individual first place finishes in the 100-yard freestyle (53.85) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:57.74). Franke finished second behind Barnes in the 100-yard freestyle (55.91) and had the Wheaton women’s only other individual victory, winning the 50-yard freestyle in 25.05 seconds. That 50-yard freestyle time for Franke moves up up from ninth to seventh in the event based upon the top times swum this season in the CCIW (Barnes has the current top time in the conference). Sandeno also picked up a second-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:32.53), barely a second behind the first-place finisher from Hope.
After taking a week off from conference competition, this Saturday, Jan. 19, the Wheaton women’s swim team will host their biggest conference rival, Carthage College. The swimming competition will start at 11:00 pm after the diving competition takes place in the Jonathan Lederhouse Natatorium in the Chrouser Recreation Center. The Carthage Lady Reds came in second to the Thunder women’s team in the CCIW women’s swimming & diving championship meet last year.