COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The McMurry University swim teams competed in their final regular season meet over the weekend, traveling to Colorado Springs, Colorado, for the Colorado College Classic. The McM women came in sixth with 165 points while the McM men brought home fourth with 280 points.
Senior Jerick Pena led the way for the War Hawks, with second and third place showings in the backstroke. Pena swam his fastest time of the season in the 100-yard backstroke, taking second in 54.96 seconds. He was third in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing in a time of 2:04.35, narrowly ahead of fourth.
Pena also took seventh in the 100-yard butterfly in 54.76 seconds.
The distance freestyle events were kind to junior Dany Baki, taking seventh in the 500-yard free and fifth in the 1650-yard free. His 500 time was 5:33.83, while he completed the 1650 in 19:26.20.
Sophomore Kaitlynn Cozma and junior Jessica Gryder nearly set season bests in their respective events. Cozma swam a 2:46.40 in the 200-yard backstroke preliminaries, less than half a second off the fastest time of the season. Gryder tied her second-fastest time of the year in the 50-yard freestyle in 27.39 seconds.
In the 200-yard individual medley, senior Monica Flores placed 11th with a time of 2:34.16.
The War Hawks will have a few weeks off before they compete at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships February 13-16 in San Antonio, Texas.