HOLLAND, Mich. – The Albion College swimmers are off to a good start in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championship after achieving 'B' qualifying times in the 800-yard freestyle relay Wednesday night.
In the men's race, Albion achieved the 11th-fastest time in Division III this season according to the performance list available at collegeswimming.com.
Led by the 1:42.05 split by first-year swimmer Tommy Trueax, Albion finished four seconds behind Calvin College at 6:46.94. Mac Robertson dropped two seconds off his split from last year to contribute a time of 1:41.4. Jake Huttenlocher swam the lead leg and Nate Kozycki manned the third leg.
In the women's race, Albion broke the school record that was set four years ago. Rileigh Eding, Samantha Swingewood, Katie Ferrero and Hannah Erickson raced to the finish in 7:38.99. The old school record was 7:47.02 set by Anna Moore, Camila Manrique, Mary Noble and Anna Hargrove.
In the process, Eding broke the school record in the 200 freestyle with her split of 1:52.77.
"Finishing second (to Calvin, 7:35.26) and getting the 'B' cut was the team goal," assistant coach Mary Ann Egnatuk said.
In the preliminary round of men's 1-meter diving, Jake Burris set the high score of 502.45 for 11 dives. The total qualifies him to advance to the NCAA Regional at Wabash College next weekend.
Jon Cronick was sixth at 309.60, the score was 14 points off his personal best.
Burris and Cronick will perform six optional dives in the final round Thursday night.
Thursday events in the MIAA Championship include the 200 freestyle relay, 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, the 400 medley relay and the finals of men's 1-meter diving.
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