The Southwestern men’s and women’s swim teams continue to make great strides this year, even with the season in its infancy. The women finished in fourth place and the men in seventh out of eight teams competing, including three with extensive diving programs.

The highlight of the day for the women’s team was the duo of junior Bailey Thompson and sophomore Sarah Ayers who took second and third place in the 100 back. Thompson swam in a time of 1:01.75 while Ayers came in at 1:02.25. Thompson was just barely out-touched at the wall, missing first by .03 seconds. She also claimed third place in the 200 yard backstroke finishing in 2:15.12.

First-year Elizabeth Lewis continues to impress in the pool. She finished in fourth place in the 200 breast with a time of 2:39.48 while teammate senior Stephanie Morton took ninth place in a time of 2:45.36.

Relays were a strong suit for the Pirate women as the 400 free relay of junior Michele Comerota, first-year Melissa Nelson, Thompson and Ayers finished in 3:52.76 for sixth place. The 200 and 400 medley relays also had solid finishes. The 200 of Ayers, Morton, Nelson and Thompson snagged seventh in 1:59.95 while the same quartet swam the 400 and took 8th in 4:24.53.

Ayers continued her constant performances with a seventh place finish in the 100 free with a time of 56.18.

Other strong finishes for the Pirate women were Nelson’s 8th place finish in the 400 individual medley and first-year Sarah McCausland’s 9th place finish in the 100 breast with a time of 1:17.04.

Junior John Prater earned the highest finish of the day for the Pirate men with a fifth place finish in the 100 breast. His time of 1:03.53 was nearly a second and a half better than his seed time and just over a second off the winning time.

Senior Jon LaRochelle had a great swim in the 200 breast, shaving a second off of his seed time to come in at 2:22.46 and in sixth place.

Prater joined forces with teammates sophomore Evan Firth, junior Josh Stanfield and first-year Stephen Montes to take seventh in the 400 free relay. Their time of 3:24.20 was six seconds better than their seed time and continued the trend of vast improvements by the Pirate men.

Montes had an impressive individual swim as well, taking five seconds off of his 1650 free time to come in at 18:03.71 and in ninth place.

The Pirates head into the holidays with a great start to the season and plenty of time to continue to improve before their next meet. They will return to the water after the holidays with a meet on January 9th at the Austin College Invitational.