Feb. 16, 2009

The 2008-2009 Southwestern University Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving teams finished off the 2009 SCAC Championships with 4 additional school records, two NCAA B-Cuts and an event champion in the women's 200 Backstroke.

The evening started off the Men's 1650 Freestyle. Sophomore Taylor Steele finished 13th with a time of 17:37.79.

Sophomore Bailey Thompson won the Women's 200 Backstroke for the first time in school history with a time of 2:08.26. This is a school record and also under the NCAA B-Cut. First-Year Sarah Ayers finished 8th in 2:15.20.

In the Men's 200 Backstroke, Sophomore Dustin McCammon finished 14th (2:07.48).

Senior Jessie Carrier finished 4th in the Women's 100 Freestyle (52.57), which was an NCAA B-Cut. During the prelim session, Carrier went 52.44, which broke the previous SCAC Meet & Open records and was also a NCAA B-Cut and a new school record. Sophomore Michele Comerota finished 13th (56.58) and first-year Kelly Myers finished 16th (58.34).

In the Men's 100 Freestyle, First-Year Travis Macha finished 10th (48.06), setting a new school record.

Junior Stephanie Morton finished 13th (2:40.25) in the 200 Breaststroke, taking over eight seconds off her previous lifetime best.

Junior Jon LaRochelle won the consolation final of the 200 Breaststroke, placing 9th with a time of 2:18.78.

In the Women's 200 Butterfly, SophomoreSamantha Kessler improved on her 14th place seed, finishing 10th in 2:19.05.

First-Year Evan Firth finished 5th (1:57.18) in the Men's 200 Butterfly. He set the school record in the event during prelims with a time of 1:56.71.

Sarah Ayers, Michele Comerota, Samantha Kessler and Jessie Carrier set in a new school record in the final relay of the meet, placing 5th in the 400 Freestyle Relay with a time of 3:42.79.

In the Men's 400 Freestyle Relay, John Prater, Travis Macha, Dustin McCammon and Evan Firth placed 7th with a time of 3:16.54, taking over six seconds off the previous school record that was set earlier this season.

The women finished the meet in 6th place with 386 points, and only 24 points separating 4th through 6th. The men finished in 8th place with 245 points, 68 points more than they scored last year.

Overall, the Pirates set school records in 20 different events (10 men's records and 10 women's records). They also received 7 All-Conference honors, including two event champions. Ninety-eight percent of the swims were season best times and seventy-eight percent of the swims were lifetime best times. Jessie Carrier and Bailey Thompson were able to swim under NCAA B-cut standards on 11 different occasions, in five different events.

The coaching staff of Interim Head Coach Nicole Kaupp and Interim Assistant Coach Scott McLean were named the 2009 SCAC Women's Coaching Staff of the Year.