Titles and Newcomer of the Year for Swim at MWC Championship
The Monmouth swim teams turned in three individual conference championship performances, along with newcomer of the year en route to a third-place team finish for the men’s squad and a sixth-place finish for the women.
The men’s team started off the weekend strong, as in the 200-yard freestyle relay of Andrew Shie, Jake Hall, Logan Hoepfner, and Preston Bocchi reached the podium as they finished third in a time of 1:26.27. The men captured their first individual title of the weekend in the 50-yard freestyle as Bocchi swam to victory in 20.89 seconds, just one one-hundredth of a second off the school record. The conference title marks his third league championship, to go with his 100 and 200-yard backstroke championships from a season ago.
The women’s team saw their best performance from day 1 of the conference championships in the 400-yard medley relay. Marissa Logan, Miranda Pasky, Maggie Wingo, and Cynthia Johnson swam to a fifth-place finish in 4:28.11, over seven-seconds faster than their seed time. The men followed the women’s strong showing by reaching the podium for the second time in as many tries. The relay of Bocchi, Shie, Hall, and Hoepfner captured second-place just over a second behind Grinnell.
Day 2 started off as the prior day had finished. The men swam to another podium finish, this time in 200-yard medley relay. Bocchi, Shie, Hall, and Hoepfner came within 19-one hundredths of a second from capturing a league-title in the event. In the 100-yard breaststroke sophomore Miranda Pasky finished in sixth.
Freshman Andrew Shie had a standout performance in the 100-yard breaststroke to capture his first league title. Shie finished in 57.72, nearly a second and a half ahead of second. In the 100-yard backstroke, Bocchi looked to defend his title from a year ago but was bested by Illinois College newcomer Davide Sanna. Bocchi finished in a time of 51.20.
In the final day of competition, Bocchi was bested once again by Sanna, this time in the 200-yard backstroke. Bocchi’s second-place finish came in 1:52.23, just under four-seconds behind Sanna. Andrew Shie duplicated his performance from the day prior, as in the 200-yard breaststroke, he raced to his second-league title of the weekend. The freshman won in a time of 2:06.60. In the final event of the weekend, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Shie, Hall, Hoepfner, and Bocchi missed making the podium for the third time. The squad finished in fourth-place, just over two-seconds behind third.
The men’s side finished with 379 points, while the women tallied 181. Freshman Andrew Shie was named the league’s newcomer of the year for his strong performances in several relays, along with his wins in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events.
Tate Heiple
Sports Editor