The Grinnell swimming and diving teams continued their dominance in the Midwest Conference (MWC) championships, with the men increasing their title streak to eight years and the women adding a third straight.
Ethan Yuen `24 set an MWC meet and school record for the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 49.31, and earned an award for Outstanding Swimmer for the meet. Sarah Lopez `26 also set a MWC meet and school record for the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:05.83. Kevin Fitzgerald `25 also set a school record in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 3:57.94.
The men’s team collected 987.5 points in the meet, beating second-place St. Norbert College by 417 points. The women’s team had 864 points, beating second-place St. Norbert by 131 points.
The championships, which ran between Feb. 16 and Feb. 18, were not without controversy however. At the culmination of the men’s three-meter diving event, Toby Frick `24 sat in second place, but associate swimming and diving coach Deidre Freeman Huff pointed out something wrong about Lawrence diver Jackson Bertman’s scores.
According to Frick, every diver must complete 11 dives and have 2 dives in each of the 5 positions. Bertman only had one reverse dive, but the judges had not realized the error.
The coaches from each school convened and consulted the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on the mistake, and one of Berman’s scores was ultimately deducted, giving Frick the win by just .55 points.
The Pioneers are next in action March 20 at the NCAA Division III championships in Greensboro, N.C.
