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The Carleton College women’s swimming and diving team won eight events and secured a 129-113 dual meet victory over College of Saint Benedict on Saturday afternoon.
“This was a great meet that we know would be extremely close,” said Carleton head coach Andy Clark. “We knew this meet would provide some great challenge since both teams were evenly matched and have good strengths in multiple events. Our women’s team needed to have some step-up performances from the entire team to have a shot at winning the meet. We switched up our lineup a bit to see if we could create some added opportunities to improve our chances. Overall, I was impressed with the good energy and drive that the team had despite coming off a heavy week of training.”
One of those swimmers shifted in the lineup was Maria Wetzel (So./ Salem, Ore./West Salem), who won 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:58.67. That was good for a 39-second margin of victory. She was back in the water for the 100-yard butterfly, reaching the wall first at 1:01.54.
Wetzel made it a three-win afternoon with the top spot in the 500-yard freestyle after posting a time of 5:18.91, which was 20.5 seconds better than the runner-up’s time.
Alex Braiedy (So./Chanhassen, Minn./Minnetonka) recorded a time of 2:00.32 in winning the 200-yard freestyle. The coaching staff noted that she showed strength, determination and confidence in the winning the event, earning her the team’s “Can of Corn” award.
Halie Langanki (Jr./Lino Lakes, Minn./Mounds View) led a 1-2-3 finish for Carleton in the 400-yard IM.
Her winning time was 4:59.86. Alison Coogan (Sr./River Forest, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest) registered the victory in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:04.04, a tight race that saw three swimmers within 0.14 seconds of one another.
Lauren Hoff (Fy./Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) proved victorious in the 100-yard breaststroke with her time of 1:15.54.
Braiedy, Anisa Lester (Fy./Corte Madera, Calif./The Branson School), Madison McBride (Jr./Elko, Minn./ Lakeville South), and Alexandra Guy (Sr./Denver Colo./Denver School of the Arts) rallied for the victory in the final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Knights trailed by 0.63 seconds midway through the race, a gap that McBride made up during her eight lengths of the pool at the Warner Palaestra Pool. Guy then sealed the decision with a strong anchor leg, allowing the Knights to post a time of 1:43.24.
Carleton will celebrate the three seniors on the women’s roster— Coogan, Guy, and Emily Houlihan (Sr./Boulder Colo./Boulder)—when the Knights take part in the their final dual meet of the 2014-15 campaign next Saturday at St. Olaf College. The first event starts at 11 a.m.