Conference meet nets fourth
One last opportunity, at the Midwest Invitational at the University of Chicago, awaited swimmers looking to earn a berth in nationals. Two swimmers took advantage.
Junior Alican Alacli earned a berth as he cut more than 14 seconds off his time in the 1650 freestyle, earning his NCAA A-cut with a 15:57.86 time.
Additionally, the women’s 400 relay qualified. Sophomore Vicki Galiamoutsa, senior Erica Smith, freshmanMaura Donahue and sophomoreMeghan Donahue shaved almost four seconds off their best time and finishing in 3:29.33. The A-standard allows Galiamoutsa to accompany 10 other Greyhound swimmers to the DII meet in two weeks in Canton, Ohio.
Upon entering the GLIAC (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) meet, held at Wayne State University, head coach Gary Kinkead had one goal for his swimmers.
“[I want them to] achieve lifetime or season best times,” he said.
The team met Coach Kinkead’s expectations.
“We anticipated placing fourth in the conference. I’m proud of the outcome of both teams,” Kinkead said.
According to GLIAC.org, Maura Donahue, won “Female Freshman Swimmer of the Year.” Feb. 13, Donahue won the 100-yard free in an NCAA A-cut time of 51:82.
“For conference I just wanted to swim fast and help the team out. I didn’t set any specific time goals because I knew that I still had nationals ahead of me. For the most part, I met my expectations; in my 100 and 500 I went faster than what I thought,” Donahue said.
Her sister, sophomore Meghan Donahue, placed second in the 200-yard backstroke also with an NCAA A-cut time of 2:04.13 on Feb. 13.
Senior Erica Smith placed second in the 200-yard fly with an A-standard time of 2:05.65.
“Our team expectations were to achieve fast times. We have been training harder this year than we have any other previous years,” Smith said.
On Feb. 12 Smith took first in the 100-yard fly with a 55.81, an A-cut time. The women’s 800-yard-relay team placed 2nd with an NCAA-championship quality time of 7:40.32.
“The women’s team did an outstanding job in the 800-yard relay. ,” Kinkead said.
On Feb. 11, Maura Donahue took second place in the 500 free with an automatic national-qualifying time of 5:01.85. Smith finished second in the 200-yard individual medley with an A-cut time of 2:07.06. The women’s relay team wrapped up the day with a fourth place finish in the 200-yard free with a time of 1:36.73.
The men’s team excelled as well. On Feb. 13, freshman Andrew Loshnowsky received a B-cut time of 46.46 in the 100yd free, placing third. Sophomore Guy Kogel won the 200yd fly with an A-standard time of 1:49.32.
“I was hoping to improve my records at the conference meet and I achieved my goals,” Kogel said. The men’s relay team finished second.
Feb. 12, sophomore Austin Bietnes, took fourth place in the 400-yard individual medley with a B-cut time of 4:10.66. On Feb. 10, the men swam well in the 200-yard medley relay. With a time of 1:34.71, they took third and made the A-cut.
One objective remains.
“Our next goal is to go to nationals and do the best we can,” Kinkead said.
