NORTH MANCHESTER, IN - The Wilmington College women's swimming team competed in a dual meet on Saturday against Manchester University, an affiliate member of the OAC. Prior to this meet, the women had not competed since November 20. This hiatus, however, did not cause them to miss a stroke, as they claimed first in 8 of the 11 swimming events and posted several seasonal bests. Of the remaining three events, the Fightin' Quakers posted the fastest times in two of them, though they did not score. The final tally was Wilmington 122, Manchester 64.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Senior Kathryn Spitznogle (Waynesville, OH/Waynesville), freshman Alyssa Rogers (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge), senior Elyse Spraul (Cincinnati, OH/Mount Notre Dame), and freshman Hannah Houston (Morrow, OH/Wilmington) came together for a 200-yard medley relay to open the meet. The quartet finished first, with a time of  2:01.82.

• Rogers also competed in the 100-yard individual medley for the Fightin' Quakers, and finished first with a time of 1:08.17. This was Rogers' first time swimming the event, and she found herself only two seconds away from the team record. Rogers competed in the 100-yard breaststroke, as well, and though Wilmington opted not to score in this event, she posted the fastest time (1:13.92), a season best by over four seconds.

• Spraul also clenched first place in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:08.51.

• Houston brought home individual first place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.05, and the 100-yard backstroke in 1:06.40.

• Junior Samantha Glish (Louisville, KY/Ballard) swam her first collegiate 200-yard freestyle and finished first with a time of 2:12.56.  She also achieved first place in the 100-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 58.99.

• Senior Haley Rowland (Fairborn, OH/Xenia Christian) also brought home a first place finish for the Fightin' Quakers in the 500-yard freestyle, clocking in at 6:09.07. Rowland also joined forces with Glish, Spitznogle, and junior Savanna Burcham (Urbana, OH/Urbana) to post the fastest time in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:53.47), though Wilmington was not scored.

HEAD COACH TRIP BREEN QUOTES

• "This was a good conference win for us, especially coming after a long time not competing. This meet gave some people the opportunity to try some new events, and those individuals stepped up and did really well."

• "We have a couple of weeks of hard training left; we're excited for the remainder of the season."

WHAT'S NEXT

• The Fightin' Quakers compete at home in an OAC dual against the University of Mount Union 1PM Saturday.