Consider this a statement.
At a meet where the Bears hoped to attain individual qualifications for nationals, they did that and more. Both the men’s and women’s swim teams had strong showings last weekend at the Wheaton Invitational in Wheaton, Ill., with each squad qualifying a number of swimmers for the NCAA national championship in March and setting the tone for the rest of the season. Both teams placed second overall at the meet. The women’s field had eight teams, while the men’s side had nine.
“Everybody put a lot of heart into the meet,” said junior co-captain Meredith Nordbrock. “We really came together as a team and performed very well.”
The women were led by sophomore Kelly Kono, freshman Marin Hawk and Nordbrock. Hawk’s performance made her a provisional qualifier for the national meet in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.19 seconds and in the 100-yard freestyle, where the rookie set school record with a time of 51.97.
The first-year also won the 200-yard freestyle, notching an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:53.18. Nordbrock made provisional times in the 100-yard backstroke (58.42) and the 200-yard backstroke (2:08.90), winning both events. She also qualified provisionally in the 200-yard individual medley (2:09.09). Kono turned in NCAA provisional qualifying times in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.68), 500-yard freestyle (5:04.88), and 1650-yard freestyle (17:25.37).
The women also qualified two relay teams for national competition, breaking a pair of records in the process. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Kono, Nordbrock, junior Katie Hodges and Hawk posted a provisional time of 3:31.65, setting a new school record.
Kono, Nordbrock and Hawk teamed up with sophomore Kim Jenkins for the 800-yard freestyle relay to turn in an automatic qualification for nationals and break the previous meet record with a time of 7:38.69.
The men’s performance was highlighted by sophomore Kevin Leckey. Leckey’s split of 21.15 in the 200-yard freestyle relay qualified him provisionally for nationals in the 50-yard freestyle. He also won the 100 free in a provisional qualifying time of 46.37, as well as setting a school record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:53.73, which also put him at provisional qualifying level.
NCAA qualifying performances were also turned in by Alex Beyer, with provisional times in the 400-yard individual medley (4:06.21) and the 100-yard breaststroke (58.62), and Perry Bullock, qualifying provisionally in the 200-yard and 400-yard individual medley events. The 800-yard freestyle relay team of Leckey, Beyer, junior Ross Vimr and freshman Brian Kushner also earned an NCAA bid.
This meet marks a turning point in the year for the Bears, as they now set their sights on the UAA Championship meet in February.
“There are several people now that are ensured to go to nationals, which is exactly what we wanted to do [at this meet],” said Nordbrock. “Now with that behind us our next focus is conference in February and nationals in March.”