Elkhart, Ind. — The Aquinas men's and women's swim and dive programs competed in a quad meet on Saturday (Oct. 28) in Elkhart, Ind., against hosts Bethel, Lindsey Wilson and DePauw. Tough competition and injuries held the Saints back in the multiple contest. But the competition marked the addition of another notch in the belt of the young programs.
The final scores were as followed. For the men: Bethel won 191-104, Lindsey Wilson won 175-112 and DePauw won 154.5-132.5. For the women, Bethel won 213-64, Lindsey Wilson won 203-73 and DePauw won 201-75.
The women still made waves even with a number of athletes out with injuries.
Freshman
Amelia Edens finished second overall in both the 100 backstroke (1:01.35) and 200 IM (2:15.58), breaking her own school record in the 200 IM by over a second.
Sophomore captain
Sarah Colvin placed second on both the 1M and 3M boards, scoring critical points for the women's team.
Sophomore
Claire Hines had two top-eight finishes in individual events, clinching fourth in the 100 fly (1:02.34) and eighth in the 50 free (26.09).
The men would come into the meet strong, starting off with the A 200 medley relay placing second overall and the B relay finishing in fifth. The A relay of
Titus Smith,
Cesar Robles,
Evan Hurtado and Matt Dumbsky clocked in their fastest in-season time, narrowly missing a school record and an overall event win.
Smith finished second in the 100 backstroke (55.14) and fifth in the 100 fly (54.99), both finishes making the all-time top-10 times list for the team.
Robles finished in second overall in the 100 breaststroke, clocking in a season-best time of 1:00.33, closely followed by teammate
Luke Martin in third with a 1:00.51. The two repeated impressive performances in the 200 breaststroke, with Martin finishing in second place with a 2:18.87 and Robles placing fourth with a 2:21.80.
Freshman Hurtado placed third in the 200 back (2:04.96) and fifth in the 200 IM (2:05.88), both events placing on the team's all-time top-10 times list.
Divers
Evan Bennett and
Troy Borrero had strong diving performances, finishing in second and third respectively on the 1M boards and second and fourth on the 3M boards.
Here is what coach
Kristy Hepp had to say about the today's performances: "The theme for today's quad meet was swimming and diving courageously. We are learning to not allow fear to hold us back from attacking our races and ripping our dives. We have so much talent and good energy on the team, yet with the majority being underclassmen, we're still working on mental toughness and gaining experience in certain events. We only have one more regular-season competition before our mid-season invitational and winter break, so this was our chance to try new strategies and mental approaches. Considering the time of the year, they executed their races well.
"We are about to enter one of our most challenging training weeks to date, culminating in our home meet vs. Alma College at the East Grand Rapids High School natatorium next Saturday. It's going to be our most exciting meet of the season so far, so we'd love to see as many Saints fans as possible in the stands!"
Like Hepp said, the Saints are back in action on Saturday (Nov. 4) for their first home meet of the season. The last time AQ held a home meet was Oct. 22, 2022. The meet will begin at 1 p.m. as the Saints take on the Scots of Alma.
