Kentwood, Mich. — The Saints competed at the Davenport Invitational this weekend across three timed-finals sessions on Friday (Oct. 11) and Saturday (Oct. 12). They faced Davenport, Saint Ambrose and Lake Superior State at the East Kentwood High School Aquatic Center in a weekend lineup mirroring the same event format Aquinas will face at the season-culminating KCAC championship meet in February. It was a weekend full of new school records, personal best times, top-10 times in school history and top 10 times across the NAIA this season. With the final count the Saints had secured a third place finish.

This competitive weekend was three different sections of competition (Friday AM, Saturday AM, and Saturday PM), here are the big notes from each section of competition.

Friday PM:

• 200 Free Relay of Chloe Boivin, Claire Hines, Emersyn Joslin and Amelia Edens set a new school record, finishing second overall with a 1:39.83. Boivin's lead-off split of 24.88 was a top-3 time in program history, with her flat 50 freestyle placing her second overall with a top-8 time in program history.
• Freshman Adriana Waller led the team in the 500 freestyle, finishing fourth overall with a top-3 time in program history with a 5:26.32.
• Joslin set a new personal best time in the 200 IM (2:18.28), placing 5th overall with a top-6 time in program history. She was closely followed by Hines in 7th place with a top-7 time in program history (2:20.79).
• Joslin, Emma Dale, Edens, and Boivin finished the evening session on a high note, setting a new school record in the 400 medley relay with a 4:07.06. Joslin's lead-off split in the 100 backstroke was a personal best time and a top-4 time in program history.

Saturday AM

• Edens and Hines kicked off Saturday morning's finals session with season-best times in the 100 butterfly, finishing 5th (1:00.35) and 7th (1:00.91) overall. Both swimmers earned a provisional time standard in the event.
• The 400 IM proved to be the biggest point-scoring individual event of the session, with Meghan Hincher, Emma Hale, Riley Monahan and Lily Heath finishing in the top 7 overall and snagging two all-time top-10 program times.
• Waller and Boivin posted top team times in the 200 freestyle, finishing 5th (2:01.85) and 6th (2:02.77) overall.
• Dale shattered her own 100 breaststroke record set at the previous meet, finishing 7th overall with the time of 1:11.95.
• Joslin and Edens led the team in the 100 backstroke, taking 3rd and 4th place respectively with each earning provisional time standards. Joslin's 59.47 cracked the team's all-time top 5 times, while Edens' 1:00.54 made the team's top-10 times list. 
• The 200 medley relay of Joslin, Dale, Edens and Boivin closed out the session in school record-breaking fashion, finishing fourth overall with a 1:51.46.

Saturday PM

• The evening session opened with the longest event of the meet - the 1,000-yard freestyle. The Saints proved to be up to the task, with four women earning program all-time top 6 times. Waller shattered the previous school record of 11:37.35, finishing 3rd overall with the time of 11:15.90. Ella Althaver, Dailey Jogan, Riley Monahan and Lily Heath battled it out for 8th through 11th place with the times of 11:40.81, 11:40.94, 11:43.34 and 12:08.90 respectively. 
• The duo of Joslin and Edens finished in second (2:08.97) and third (2:10.42) place in the 200 backstroke, ranking them second and third in the nation overall in the event this season. 
• Boivin cemented her sprint dominance in the 100 freestyle, finishing third overall with a 55.05 - a top-8 time in team history. 
• In the women's 200 breaststroke, freshman Dale set a new school record by .01 seconds, finishing 7th overall with a 2:41.85. Jogan, Nolynn Coombs, and Elisabeth Zubal took 8th through 10th place with program all-time top 5 finishing times.
• Waller sealed the title of top point-scorer for the women's team by finishing the 200 butterfly with the second-fastest time in school history of 2:19.80. 
• The 400 freestyle relay of Boivin, Waller, Edens and Joslin finished in 3rd place with a 3:41.01, nearly edging out the Saint Ambrose University relay.

Here is what Head Coach Kristen Hepp had to share about the teams performance this weekend, "This weekend was a huge confidence builder for the team! We're still a young team gaining experience swimming in a big environment, yet the results speak for themselves. The purpose of this meet was to tech up and set ourselves up for the fastest in-season swimming possible, and we delivered. The sheer number of school records, personal bests and season-best performances are telltale signs that we're focusing on the right things in training and just having fun with racing. We're focusing on trusting the process, honing in on technique, nutrition and race planning. Our swimmers know how to step up for each other under pressure, and this meet serves as a dress rehearsal for our mid-season invite back at this same pool in November. This season has the potential to be a breakout season for both the men's and women's teams, so I'm very pleased with the team's efforts this weekend"!
Women's Scores Overall:

Overall, the Aquinas women set three team relay records and three individual event records, and 12 national provisional time standards. Here are the final team scores:

1. Davenport University Women - 953
2. Saint Ambrose University Women - 811
3. Aquinas College Women - 792
4. Lake Superior State University - 40

Up Next

Both Men's and Women's swim and dive will be back in the water on Saturday (Oct. 19) with their only home event of the season with Albion and Olivet.