ALBION, Mich. – Hope College defeated Albion College, 163-137, in a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association women's swimming & diving dual meet Saturday, but Albion Head Coach Jake Taber was encouraged about the outlook for the league championship meet in three weeks.
"We came to race and we were in every event all meet long," Taber said. "We tied them in the swimming events. The way we have started to close the gap on the top teams in the conference is a good feeling. It will be a fun weekend at the MIAA Championships if it comes together for us over the next three weeks."
Anna Moore, a first-year swimmer from Battle Creek, provided the highlight of the day when she achieved a pool record of 2:09.10 in taking first place in the 200-yard backstroke. She also touched the wall first in the 100 backstroke (58.95 seconds), swam leadoff on the winning 200 medley relay and finished runner-up in the 100 butterfly (1:00.77).
Anna Hargrove, a senior who swam last for the winning relay, scored first-place points when she finished the 100 freestyle in 55.17 seconds. She was the runner-up in the 200 individual medley (2:17.46).
Kylene Slocum, the second swimmer on the medley relay, was the runner-up in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.48) and third in the 200 IM (2:21.27). Sarah Kilbride, who hit the water third on the medley relay, finished third in the 200 butterfly as teammate Mary Noble was second.
Also for Albion, Haley DeFeyter was runner-up in the 1,000 freestyle (11:44.79), Lauren Pawelec and Amy Krausmann were second and third, respectively, in the 50 freestyle, Claire Wittkowski and Natalie Nichols were second and third, respectively, in the 200 breaststroke, Camila Manrique was third in the 200 freestyle (2:05.31), Abigail Slager was third in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.00), Pawelec was third in the 100 freestyle (56.83 seconds), and Katelyn Killewald was third in the 200 backstroke (2:24.67).
Next up for the Britons is a Jan. 30 meet at Olivet College. The College of Wooster will also be there to challenge the Britons and the Comets.
