GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – With respect to the late musical artist Tom Petty, the Albion College women's swimming & diving team is proving it won't back down this season.
Competing against their Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association rivals for the first time this season, Rileigh Eding and Nicole McCann helped the Britons win three events in the MIAA Relays Friday night.
Eding and McCann were in the pool for the 200-yard medley relay, 200 backstroke relay and the mixed 200 medley relay.
"Considering how early it is in the season, it's helpful to understand how we will compete," Head Coach Jake Taber said. "We have young talent, but we wanted to know how we'll compete in a big setting. Our women are highly competitive in the MIAA. We went out and swam strong."
Anna Moore, Kaitlind Hooper, McCann and Eding set a meet record when they completed the 200 backstroke relay in 1:49.59. McCann achieved a split of 26.95 and Eding completed her anchor leg in 25.78.
Eding's 27.62 leadoff split put Albion in front in the medley relay and McCann matched Calvin College's Abby VanHarn stroke for stroke as the Britons completed the race in 1:50.92 for a half-second margin over the Knights.
Taber said the mixed medley relay was the most fun event of the night. Eding and McCann were joined by men Jake Huttenlocher and Nate Kozycki for a swim of 1:40.78 which was three-hundredths of a second ahead of Calvin.
"The closeness of this swimming family makes the event a lot of fun," Taber said.
Kathryn Henning, Sarah Kilbride, Amanda Quitos and Hooper formed the winning breaststroke relay as Albion won the first three events of the night.
Albion also finished second in the 200 butterfly relay (Eding, Alexandra Horman, Kilbride and Moore), 400 medley relay (Kilbride, Horman, Hooper and Quitos) and 200 freestyle relay (McCann, Eding, Natalie Seifert and Moore) events.
Albion will return to Grand Rapids next weekend for the Calvin Quad.
Follow the Britons on Twitter: @AlbionSwimming
