Scott BresslerAnd they’re off to the races. At this weekend’s annual Show Me Showdown sprint meet in Columbia, Mo., both the men’s and women’s swim teams turned out fourth place finishes, competing against teams from all across Missouri who usually compete at all different NCAA divisions.
The women’s team brought home top-four finishes in all four relay events. The team of junior Kelly Kono, senior Meredith Nordbrock, senior Kristen Mann and sophomore Jessie Lodewyk placed third in both the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay, with times of 1:41.00 and 3:39.99, respectively. Two newcomers showed off their stuff in the 200-yard medley relay, as the team of freshmen Claire Henderson and Karin Underwood, Nordbrock and senior Jennifer Yu took third with a time of 1:43.59. In addition, the relay team of Nordbrock, freshman Devon O’Leary, Mann and Kono took fourth in the 300-yard medley event, finishing in 3:00.91.
Bear swimmers also turned in solid performances in the individual sprint events. Nordbrock placed fifth in the 100-yard individual medley race, swimming the race in 1:01.13, and Mann got sixth in the 50-yard butterfly sprint with a time of 27.20.
The men found similar success in the relay events, with top-four finishes in each race. They placed third in each of the freestyle relays, with the team of junior Kevin Leckey, freshman David Chao, junior Charles Stewart and sophomore Alex Beyer putting up a time of 1:26.50 in the 200-yard event, and the team of Leckey, Chao, Beyer and sophomore Dan Arteaga finishing the 400-yard race in 3:13.33. The men also had fourth place finishes in the medley relays. The team of Leckey, Beyer, junior Perry Bullock and Arteaga went 2:35.63 in the 300-yard medley relay, and the team of freshman Kartik Anjur, senior Tom Morris, Beyer and Bullock swam the 200-yard event in 1:29.12.
The Bears found some success in the individual events as well. Bullock placed third in the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 53.47, and Leckey sprinted to a sixth place finish in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.72.
The Bears have a week off before hosting DePauw University in a dual meet on Saturday, Oct. 27, at 1 p.m. at Millstone Pool in their first official Division III meet of the season.