Grand Rapids, Mich. — Both Aquinas swim and dive teams returned to competition on Saturday (Jan. 20). The men had a dual with Davenport while the women held a double-dual against Davenport and Hillsdale. 

Aquinas 53, Davenport 234 | Aquinas 72, Hillsdale 196

Women's Team Highlights

The women's 200 medley relay of Amelia Edens, Kennedy Pierce, Claire Hines and Chloe Boivin kicked off the meet with a new school record with the finishing time of 1:53.53.

Sophomore Lily Heath had a breakthrough meet in her individual events, finishing top for Aquinas in the 1,000 freestyle with a personal best time of 11:58 and top for Aquinas in the 200 breaststroke with a personal best time of 2:51.80.

Edens had the top individual team finish in the 200 backstroke, placing second overall with an impressive 2:13.90. She also placed fourth overall in the 200 freestyle with a 2:02.40.

Hines powered to the top team finish in the 100 butterfly with a 1:01.72, placing fourth overall in the event.

Sophomore Meghan Hincher had the most challenging individual lineup of the meet with the 200 butterfly (2:38.03), 500 freestyle (5:47.47) and 200 IM (2:27.15) triple, yet she managed to claim the top team finishes in each event.

Aquinas 87, Davenport 196

Men's Team Highlights:

Sophomore Conrad Eichbauer took the top team finishes in the 1,000 and 500 freestyle events.

Freshman Titus Smith stunned in his individual events as the top point scorer of the meet, claiming first place in both the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle. Both races came down to the last stroke, with Smith getting his hand on the wall first by less than two tenths of a second.

Breaststroke duo Cesar Robles and Luke Martin traded top team finishes in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events, posting impressive times at this point in the season. Robles finished fourth in the 100 breast (1:00.80) with Martin in fifth (1:01.40), while Martin finished fourth in the 200 breast (2:21.25) and Robles in fifth (2:21.85).

Sophomore Ben Szydlowski had the top team finishes in the 200 freestyle (1:52.34) and 400 IM (4:44.83), placing fourth and second respectively.

Freshman diver Evan Bennett placed first on the 3M board and second on the 1M board.

A word from Coach Hepp on the team's performances, "I am incredibly proud of how our men and women competed and carried themselves today. This was our first competition since mid-November, so we were excited to finally race and see where we're at both physically and mentally. We just returned from our training trip to Florida, which was full of the most challenging training sessions we've ever done in team history, so fatigue is at an all-time high. But the team stepped up to the challenge and competed with courage today. Courage is our theme for the year, and I saw our athletes display this trait time and time again by implementing new race strategies and battling through every stroke. Some athletes even got personal-best and season-best times, which is very impressive at this point in the season. I can't wait to see how they continue to show courage in our last regular-season meet of the year next week at Albion, then at our KCAC championship."

Up Next

Like Coach Hepp said, the Saints will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 27) at Albion for their final regular season competition as they look to set to personal bests before the KCAC championship.