7th place
STO 169.5 – OC 92.5 = Olaf sets the stage by going 1-2 in the 4 medley relay, the relay they picked. There are a few close events here and there but the bottom line here is Olivet is over matched in this tournament. Olaf wins both relays and 9 individual events. Olivet picked the 2 free relay, so hats off to finishing it strong. STO 1-2 record. OC 0-3.
5th place
Best dual of the meet and it’s an in-conference rivalry. Normally the rivalry stays on the guy’s side but the women wanted to share in the fun. Hope chose the 4 free and K picked the 4 medley. 13-4 out of the gate for the Hornets. Hope wins the first 3 individual events and goes up 44-30 only to see K win the next two events and pull to within 4 going into the 50 free. Two studs square off… Libby Westrate for Hope and Taryn Edsall for Kalamazoo and when the dust had settled both girls looked up and saw a 23.91 next to their name. Kalamazoo entered one diver on one board and outscored Hope 9-0 in diving. Post diving Westrate wins the 100 and we see some back and forth UNTIL the 100 fly where Zoo goes 1-2-3 and puts Hope away. Even a strong finish going 14-5 and then 13-4 in the 2 IM and 4 free relay respectively aren’t enough to catch the Hornets as K pulls the upset 136.5 – 134.5. Records: K 2-1, Hope 1-2
3rd place
The 1 vs the 2 for 3rd place?!?! UWSP picks the 4 medley and goes 1-2 to open up a 15-2 lead that the Lady Reds just can’t overcome. Carthage picks the 200 free relay. The opening relay didn’t end up mattering much as UWSP wins 161 – 101 but despite the spread in the score, both teams each won 6 individual events while UWSP swept the relays. UWSP 2-1, CC 1-2
Championship
3rd seed WashU Bears. 4th seed Chicago Maroons. WashU wins the toss and chooses the 4 free relay, Chicago counters with the 200 medley. Wash U dominated… kind of… Wash U won both relays and also got the 3rd place points for both relays. Wash U won 10 of the 16 events, 8 of 12 in swimming (that’s 75%!). Despite all of this they LOSE. Yes, that’s right, despite looking like they would dominate, they get upset by the 4th seeded Maroons 149-145 in an epic battle for the ages.
Where Chicago won events, they WON events. The 6 events they won they finished 1-2-3 in 3 of them and went 1-2-4 in another. They had the depth to keep WashU from pulling away and they waited until the time (or event) was right to attack.
Chicago 3-0
WashU 2-1
Congrats to the women of UChicago for pulling the huge upset to win it all. Maybe some coaches need to look at this before filling in their next ranking poll…