Swimming teams compete in first day of dual at Carthage

The Olivet College men's and women's swimming teams turned in some impressive performances tonight in the first day of a dual meet at Carthage (Wisc.) College. Overall, the Comets recorded three first-places and 11 runner-up finishes. Action concludes tomorrow at noon CT.

For the women, freshman Laura Spray (Lake Forest, Ill.) led a 1-2 Olivet finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:28.99. Freshman Jessica Howard (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) was second in 5:35.73. Senior Kalee Redder (Grandville/Jenison) had two second-place finishes. In the 200-yard individual medley, she clocked-in at 2:24.15, and in the 100-yard freestyle, she clocked-in at :57.56.

Redder also swam the anchor leg of the second-place 200-yard freestyle relay. Joining her on the relay were junior Jackie Taylor (Plainwell) and freshmen Emily LaPorta (Hamilton) and Caitlin Lohr (Holland/Hamilton), and their time was 1:44.33. Spray took second in the 200-yard butterfly (2:23.65), while Taylor was second in the 200-yard backstroke (2:19.54).

Winning events for the Comet men were freshman Michael Conger (Plymouth) and senior Steven Davis (Davidsville, Md./DeMatha). Conger beat his nearest competitor by more than three seconds in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:06.25. Davis won by seven seconds in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:47.92.

Sophomore Kellen Beckwith (Farmington Hills/North Farmington) finished second in the 200-yard backstroke (2:01.92), edging the third-place swimmer from Carthage by .03 seconds. Freshman Austin Munn (Pinckney) placed second in the 100-yard freestyle (:49.68) to finish just ahead of teammate Mike Harden (St. Johns) by .05 seconds. Sophomore Rafe Maxwell (Bay City/Western) was second in the 200-yard butterfly (2:00.66).

Olivet also took second in the 400-yard medley (3:42.50) and 200-yard freestyle (1:30.18) relays. Swimming on the 400 medley relay were Beckwith, sophomore Zach McMunigal (Grand Blanc/Flint Powers Catholic), Maxwell and Munn. The 200 free relay consisted of Munn, senior Brad Voss (Lansing/Holt), Harden and Beckwith.

Following tomorrow's action, the Comets will open the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association portion of their schedule next Saturday at Kalamazoo College. Action gets under way at 1 p.m.