Women’s swimming and diving team places fifth at MIAA Championships

The Olivet women's swimming and diving team has finished in fifth-place at the 2010 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championships. Calvin College, who hosted the championships at the Venema Aquatic Center, ran away with the team title, scoring 939 points. The rest of the team scores were Hope (715), Kalamazoo (442), Albion (374), Olivet (289), Alma (262) and Saint Mary's (241).

Sophomore Caitlin Lohr (Holland/Hamilton) placed sixth in the 100 freestyle (:54.27), while freshman Crystal Jager (Sturgis) was sixth in the 200 breaststroke (2:30.85). Jager moved up two spots from the morning prelims, where she was eighth-fastest by less than 1/10 second.

Sophomore Jessica Howard (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) was the only Olivet swimmer to finish in the top 16 of the 1,650 freestyle, as she was ninth with a time of 18:32.24. In the 200 backstroke, freshman Jennie Plamondon (Flushing) placed 16th in 2:26.66. Freshman Erica Schlabach (Goshen, Ind./Northridge) took first in the consolation finals of the 200 butterfly for a ninth-place overall finish, stopping the clock at 2:23.84.

In the final event of the championships, the 400 freestyle relay, Olivet's team of Jager, Schlabach, Howard and Lohr, finished in fourth-place in 3:43.53, out-touching the team from Saint Mary's by .30 seconds.