The Collegian

Issue date: 1/22/09 Section: Sports

The Chargers kicked toward the end of their season Saturday by beating Lewis University while also swallowing a loss to host Wayne State University.

With one month of training before the GLIAC conference meet, the team has a final home meet this Saturday in which they will focus on solidifying a strategy. Head coach Kurt Kirner feels it will be a good tune-up meet for his swimmers to have the opportunity to set solid seed times for conference.

"It's our one last chance to practice a race strategy in a meet situation," he said.

Senior and co-captain Meghan McDonald said the team swam well against Lewis and Wayne State, considering they just returned from a 10-day training trip in Florida.

"As a whole, we're starting to meet our goals," freshman Michaela Wolfe said.

Wolfe took second in the 1650-yard freestyle with a personal best of 18:40.07, followed closely by freshman Nikki Dyer, who placed third. Freshman Linda Okonkowski won the 100 butterfly with a season best and placed second in the 200 butterfly. Junior Meredith Scott earned third place in the 400 IM and took second in the 100 breaststroke. Senior Anne Verhoef stroked to first and second in the 50 and the 100 freestyle respectively. Sophomore Alicia Leduc glided into second in the 100 backstroke, also reaching a season best. Overall, Kirner said he was pleased and impressed with everyone's performance.

During Christmas break, the team traveled to Florida, where McDonald said they got back into action, training twice a day, though they also had some down time on the beach and at Busch Gardens.

"Not only did [the training trip] make us stronger swimmers, but also stronger as a team," Okonkowski said.

Kirner said this trip is one of the major highlights of the season. Janis McIntosh, a retired teacher/counselor working part time at Busch Gardens, sent the team a complimentary letter.

"I just want to say I had the pleasure of watching the swim team at Busch Gardens, " McIntosh wrote. "They were extremely well behaved and represented Hillsdale in the most positive light. I was proud to see a tightly knit group of girls having fun with pride and spirit. Having been a coach in the past, I know the coach must be extremely proud of such a great group of gals. GO GIRLS SWIM TEAM!"

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