Grinnell women's swimming and diving team comes up big in returning to top of Midwest Conference

Results

GRINNELL, Iowa - After having its seven-year Midwest Conference title streak interrupted in 2020, the Grinnell College women's swimming and diving team is back on top.

With four event victories and three school records highlighting the action Sunday at Russell K. Osgood Pool, Grinnell piled up 885 points to beat runner-up Lake Forest College's total of 856.

Grinnell has now won 21 of the last 23 MWC titles and 23 of the previous 25.

Grinnell's school records came from Sophia Carroll 25 in the 1650-yard freestyle and Kailee Shermak '25 in the 100 freestyle. Carroll's time of 17 minutes, 24.84 seconds was not only an NCAA "B" cut but was well better than the 2019 NCAA Championships invited time.

Carroll broke the previous Grinnell record of 17:55.58 set by Jenn Holm in 2001 and, during her journey, also broke the school 1000 record with a time of 10:33.32. The previous mark was 10:43.98 set in 2003 by Rachel Sellon.

Shermak won the 100 freestyle in a school-record time of 52.82, beating Beth Tsuha's mark of 53.10 established in 2016. It was just a hundredth of a second off the MWC record.

Shermak, Maree Elliott '24, Nikki Schlegel '22 and Carroll teamed up to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:32.78, the second-best time at Grinnell. The Pioneers' other win was by November Brown '23 in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:26.61, which ranks fourth at Grinnell.

Schlegel and Eva Cuevas '25 were runners-up in the 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke in 2:06.27 and 2:30.80, respectively. Schlegel's time is second in program history and Cuevas' time is ninth.

Camryn Gonzales '25 placed third in the 200 butterfly in 2:10.47 and Val Ishchenko '25 was fourth in the 200 backstroke in 2:11.01. Both times are fourth all-time at Grinnell.

Elliott was fifth in the 100 freestyle in 54.77 and Olivia Pluska '25 took sixth in the 200 backstroke in 2:12.26. They are ranked 18th and seventh in GC history.

Grinnell got seventh-place finishes from Maddie Sevier '23 in the 1650 freestyle (19:07.82), Kendra Howard '24 in the 100 freestyle (55.23) and Hannah Sweet '25 in the 200 butterfly (2:20.92).

Taking eighth were Sweet in the 200 backstroke (2:14.11, ranked 18th), Aliya Swearngin '25 in the 100 freestyle (55.36) and Mae Bernacchi '24 in the 200 breaststroke (2:36.86).

Also for Grinnell, Olivia Klein '24 had the 19th-best 200 backstroke time in 2:14.17.

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Players Mentioned

Mae Bernacchi: Sophomore

November Brown: Junior

Maree Elliott: Sophomore

Kendra Howard: Sophomore

Olivia Klein: Sophomore

Nikki Schlegel: Senior

Maddie Sevier: Junior

Kailee Shermak: First-Year

Sophia Carroll: First-Year

Eva Cuevas: First-Year

Players Mentioned

Mae Bernacchi
: Sophomore

November Brown
: Junior

Maree Elliott
: Sophomore

Kendra Howard
: Sophomore

Olivia Klein
: Sophomore

Nikki Schlegel
: Senior

Maddie Sevier
: Junior

Kailee Shermak
: First-Year

Sophia Carroll
: First-Year

Eva Cuevas
: First-Year