The Hillsdale College women's swimming and diving team saw a school record fall and racked up a trio of second place finishes on an impressive third night of competition at the G-MAC/MEC Championships on Thursday in Canton, Ohio.
Freshman
Sasha Babenko broke her own school record to finish a close second in the 100 backstroke, in a time of 56.07. The time is also a B-cut time for the NCAA DII Championships, which will put Babenko under consideration to make the championship field in March.
Ella Malone also swam in the A Final of the 100 backstroke for the Chargers, finishing fifth in 57.72, the fifth fastest time in program history, and
Yvonne Botha swam in the B final and took 12th overall in 1:00.01.
Another Hillsdale freshman also earned a runner-up finish and B-cut time on Thursday, as
Avery May took second in the 500 freestyle in 5:01.28 to earn consideration for the national meet as well. May was one of four Chargers in the A final, with
Alyson Early placing sixth in 5:10.76,
Isabel Ondracek placing seventh in 5:13.05 and
Matilyn Wilhelmsen taking eighth in 5:17.13. Freshman
Rylee Harris also competed in the B Final for the Chargers and finished ninth overall in 5:11.57.
Both Babenko and May also swam on Hillsdale's runner-up 800 freestyle relay team along with
Ella Schafer and
Alyson Early, finishing in 7:35.81 in a close race with Findlay.Â
In the 100 breaststroke, junior
Lauren Kamp swam the eighth-fastest time in program history to place third, finishing in 1:06.32, while teammate
Kate Potwardowski placed sixth in 1:07.44 as well. In the B Final of the 100 breaststroke,
Yvonne Botha took ninth overall in 1:09.47,
Rotem Andegeko placed 14th in 1:10.60 and
Aine Maloney finished 15th in 1:12.23.
Hillsdale had three competitors in the A final of the 200 butterfly, led by junior
Inez McNichols, who took fourth in 2:11.92.
Ella Malone placed sixth for the Chargers as well in 2:13.27, and
Olivia Leathers took seventh in 2:14.15.
The Chargers enter the final day of competition on Friday in second place as a team with 1,116 points, trailing Findlay but well ahead of third-place Ashland. Hillsdale will return to C.T. Branin Natatorium on Friday for prelims at 10 AM and the finals at 6 PM, with titles being awarded in the 1,650 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 200 breaststroke and the 400 freestyle relay, as well as the overall team title.
