Pioneer women shoot past nationally-ranked foe on opening day of Grinnell Invite

Day 1 Results (PDF)

GRINNELL, Iowa – Riding its trademark balance and depth, the Grinnell College women's swimming and diving team pushed its way past a nationally-ranked squad to lead the Grinnell Invitational after the opening day of action Friday.

Grinnell accumulated 587.5 points on the first day of action at Russell K. Osgood Pool, 101 ahead of 24th-ranked St. Catherine University.

The Pioneers did their damage with two event victories and plenty of support from other place winners. Champs for Grinnell were Sarah Lopez '26 in the 200-yard butterfly in 2 minutes, 10.22 seconds – the fourth-best time in program history - and the 800 freestyle relay team of Kailee Shermak '25, Camryn Gonzales '25, Olivia Pluska '25 and Sophia Carroll '25. Their time was 8:17.43 as they beat the runner-up by more than 12 seconds.

Gonzales was runner-up in the 200 butterfly in 2:10.73, just a half-second off the winning pace, and was part of the second-place 400 medley relay team that swam 4:06.27. Completing that team were Lopez, November Brown '23 and Carroll.

Carroll added a third-place finish in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:26.04. Also taking third was the 200 freestyle relay unit of Aliya Swearngin '25, Ciara Vogler '26, Shermak and Sophie Juethner '26. Their time was 1:42.92.

Placing fourth were Olivia Klein '24 in the 100 backstroke (1:02.63), Carroll in the 100 freestyle (55.22) and Shermak in the 100 individual medley (1:04.41), while Lopez took fifth in the 200 individual medley in 2:13.83. Lopez's time ranks 16th in program history.

Sixth place went to Jane Markovitz '26 in 1-meter diving (244.40 points), Pluska in the 100 backstroke (1:02.99), Shermak in the 100 freestyle (56.18) and Hannah Sweet '25 in the 200 butterfly (2:23.02).

Maria Rossi '25 was seventh in 1-meter diving with a score of 236.70, while other seventh-place finishers were Gonzales in the 200 individual medley (2:16.05) and Greta Dunn '26 in the 500 freestyle (5:36.33). Swearngin took eighth in the 100 freestyle in 56.64.

The meet continues at 9 a.m. Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

November Brown: Senior

Sophia Carroll: Sophomore

Camryn Gonzales: Sophomore

Olivia Klein: Junior

Olivia Pluska: Sophomore

Maria Rossi: Sophomore

Kailee Shermak: Sophomore

Aliya Swearngin: Sophomore

Hannah Sweet: Sophomore

Greta Dunn: First-Year

Players Mentioned

November Brown
: Senior

Sophia Carroll
: Sophomore

Camryn Gonzales
: Sophomore

Olivia Klein
: Junior

Olivia Pluska
: Sophomore

Maria Rossi
: Sophomore

Kailee Shermak
: Sophomore

Aliya Swearngin
: Sophomore

Hannah Sweet
: Sophomore

Greta Dunn
: First-Year