<ria Wetzel ‘17 won three individual events, including breaking the Thorpe Pool record in the 200-yard backstroke, but the Carleton College women’s swimming and diving team came up short against the College of Saint Benedict, 169-127.
Today’s meet came 20 hours after the Knights competed in a dual meet at Gustavus Adolphus. “Biggest thing that stands out is that in the past the second of these back-to-back meets is always a hard one,” said Carleton head coach Andy Clark, “So it’s impressive to see the teams compete at a top level with a number of outstanding performances.”
Wetzel took first in the 100 backstroke (59.98) as well as the 200 backstroke, finishing in 2:07.78—nearly nine seconds ahead of second-place Emily Roberts of St. Ben’s. This latter effort broke the standing pool record by more than 1.6 seconds. Wetzel finished the afternoon by touching first in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:14.30.
Wetzel was aided by teammate Milana Socha ‘14, who also claimed top billing in three events.
Socha dominated the sprints. She triumphed in her first individual event, the 200 freestyle, touching first in 1:58.39. She followed this with another top finish in the 50-freestyle, reaching the wall at 24.62, then won again in the next race, the 100 freestyle, in 53.69. Her performance earned her the “Can of Corn”—the award given to the top Carleton swimmer in each meet.
Wetzel also teamed up with Annie Doubleday ‘14, Madison McBride ‘16, and Alexandra Guy ‘15 to secure a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay.
Other strong individual performances for the Knights included Masha Toulokhonova’s ‘17 top finish in the marathon 1000 freestyle, with a time of 11:28.33. Toulokhonova also took third in the 500 freestyle, right behind Halie Langanki ‘16, who finished second in 5:35.25.
The Knights face off against Hamline University and Augsburg College on Friday, Jan. 17 in Thorpe Pool. Racing begins at 6:00 pm.