LEWISVILLE, Texas - Trinity University claimed four individual titles on the final day of competition and wrapped up its 13th consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference women's swimming and diving title Saturday at the LISD Westside Aquatic Center. Official Website | Complete Meet Results | Team Scores | All-SCAC Team
The Texas Tigers accumulated 937 points to pull away from second-place Colorado College which finished with 841.50 points. Southwestern University placed third with 623 points.
The race for fourth place in the team rankings was extremely tight as Centenary College scored 326 points to narrowly defeat both McMurry University (318.50 points) and Austin College (313 points).
Trinity opened the day's scoring with a 1-2-3 sweep of the 1-meter board. A day after winning the 3-meter board, Sarah Kate Mrkonich completed her own individual sweep with a first-place showing on the low board, scoring 432.10 points. For her efforts, the sophomore earned SCAC Diver-of-the-Meet honors for the second consecutive year - the ninth-consecutive year a Trinity diver has taken home the award. Danielle Freund (419.45) and Mollie Patzke (410.60) completed the All-SCAC sweep for the Tigers.
Back in the pool, Rebecca Andruzzi defended her title in the 1,650 free, touching the wall first in a time of 18:02.82. Emily Harrison of Colorado College placed second in a time of 18:10.76 and Alexandra Morris of Southwestern was third with a time of 18:18.17.
McMurry's Robyn Remschel won her second individual title of the meet and broke another SCAC meet and open record in the process as the sophomore completed the 200 backstroke in a time of 2:01.95. Her winning time was also good for an NCAA 'B' cut. Trinity's Ashley Ward finished second in a time of 2:04.04 and Colorado College's Olivia Dilorati, the three-time defending champion in the event, was third with a finish of 2:04.24. The finishes by both Ward and Dilorati also represented NCAA 'B' cut qualifying times.
Trinity picked up another individual win as Lindsay Hagmann earned her second individual title of the championships with a first-place showing in the 100 freestyle. The sophomore touched in a time of 50.86, which established a new SCAC meet and open mark as well as an NCAA 'B' cut. Erin Holmes of Colorado College finished second in a time of 52.81 and Trinity's Lauren Cuda was third with a time of 53.24.
Kara Beauchamp kept the individual gold streak going for the Tigers as she earned top honors in the next event, the 200 backstroke. The senior, who had won the event as a freshman and a sophomore, once again stood atop the podium in a winning time of 2:23.09. Last year's winner, Megan Gillespie of Colorado College, placed second with a time of 2:28.18 and her teammate, Kate Guynn, was third in a time of 2:31.24.
In the final individual event of the 2016 championships, Colorado College's Ellen Silk repeated as champion in the 200 butterfly. The sophomore placed first with a finishing time of 2:08.56 and was followed by Kenly Gaynor of Southwestern (2:10.57) and Erin Crooks of Trinity (2:11.44).
Colorado College wrapped up the meet with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Dilorati, Holmes, Emily Harrison and Justina Zuckerman closed strong down the stretch to earn top honors in a time of 3:31.31. Trinity University placed second with a finishing time of 3:32.23 and Southwestern was third in a time of 3:41.39.
During the 2016 women's championship, SCAC swimmers set five new SCAC championship meet records as well as five new SCAC open marks. In addition, 13 different NCAA 'B' cut times were established.
In announcements made following the championships, in addition to Mrkonich being recognized as SCAC Female Diver-of-the-Meet, Trinity's Hagmann was named SCAC Female Swimmer-of-the-Meet. Hagmann won both the 100 breaststroke and the 100 freestyle and finished second in the 50 free. She was also a member of Trinity's second-place 200 medley relay and 400 free relay teams.
The SCAC coaches also voted on Staff-of-the-Year honors for women's teams and Colorado College's coaching staff, McMurry's coaching staff and Trinity's coaching staff split the vote to share the award.
