SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Trinity University cruised to its 16th consecutive conference title at the 2019 SCAC Women's Swimming & Diving Championship which wrapped up Saturday evening at the Palo Alto Aquatic Center. Official Website | Complete Results | Photo Gallery
Trinity finished with 932 points while Colorado College was second with 830 points and Southwestern University was third with 703. Rounding out the standings, Centenary College finished in fourth with 428 points, Austin College was fifth with 331 points, the University of the Ozarks placed sixth with 170 points and McMurry University finished seventh with 131 points.
Mabel Fowler led the Tigers with three individual wins, culminating with Saturday's victory in the 200 back where she touched first in a NCAA 'B' cut time of 2:02.94. Teammate Paige Johnson finished second in 2:05.87 and Centenary's Brianna Serret was third in a time of 2:10.14.
On the boards, the Tigers' Maren Merwarth wrapped up SCAC Diver of the Meet honors with a second-place finish in the 3-meter discipline. Merwarth, who had won the gold on the 1-meter board the day before, scored 350.10 points to barely lose to Colorado College's Riley Wadehra who finished with 355.45 points. Wadehra's victory represented the first win by a non-Trinity diver since Hendrix College's Jill Greshowak swept both boards at the 2005 championships. CC's Jen Middleton was third with a score of 332.85.
The Tigers put a bow on their team title with a victory in the 400 free relay - the program's third-consecutive win in the culminative event. The team of Fowler, Johnson, Star Rosales and Morgen Reyna touched the wall in a NCAA 'B' cut time of 3:29.40, the second-fastest time ever in the event. Southwestern finished in second at 3:31.88 and Colorado College completed the All-SCAC trio with a time of 3:42.54.
In addition to being its 16th consecutive team title, Trinity now has 19 total SCAC Women's Swimming and Diving championships - which is tied with Centre College men's basketball for the fifth-most by any single program in league history. Trinity men's tennis and Trinity women's soccer both have 23 team titles, Trinity women's tennis has 22 and Trinity men's soccer has 21.
Although Southwestern finished third in the team standings, the Pirates were dominant at the top of the awards podium during Saturday's finals session. Of the five individual events contested, Southwestern swimmers took first place in four of them. Ashley Harmon pulled off a historic double when she took first place in both the 1,650 free and the 200 fly - the first SCAC swimmer (man or woman) to accomplish that feat in the same meet. She completed the 1,650 free in 17:30.78 - good for a NCAA 'B' cut and was followed by the Colorado College duo of Key Macfarland (18.17.06) and Kerren Matthews (18:17.83). In the evening's final individual swim, Harmon finished ni 2:07.74. Jio Chang of Colorado College was second in 2:11.60 and Ivy Claflin of Trinity placed third in 2:15.80.
Jesse Stovall and Rehgan Hartsell both earned their third victories of the championship meet - with Stovall taking first in the 100 free and Hartsell in the 200 breast. Stovall took top honors in a winning time of 51.49 - which was good for a NCAA 'B' cut. Trinity swimmers took the next five places in the standings, including all-SCAC swims from Morgen Reyna (51.90) and Star Rosales (53.03). Hartsell also earned a NCAA 'B' cut with her winnig swim in the 200 breast - touching first in a time of 2:21.86. Kaylin Swoboda of Centenary finished second in 2:27.12 and Emily Erickson of Colorado College was third in 2:30.34.
With three individual wins and two NCAA 'B' cuts each, Stovall and Hartsell shared SCAC Women's Swimmer-of-the-Meet honors. Hartsell won the honor alone last year as a freshman.
Following the meet, the Trinity University staff - led by second-year head coach Scott Trompeter, along with head diving coach Stan Randall, assistant coach John Ryan and assistant coach Kimberly Jones - earned SCAC Women's Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honors. The award marked the fifth consecutive year the program has been so honored and 11th time overall.