W. swimming takes first at Blue Grass Mountain meet

In their final regular season meet of the year, the Hopkins women's swim team finished on a very impressive note. The Lady Jays won the Blue Grass Mountain Conference Championships by over 70 points. They notched a total of 664 points, 73 points ahead of Wingate University, who finished in second.

Junior Allie Foster set both a meet and pool record on the final day of competition in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:23.76. The time met the provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Division III Championships. Senior Jessica Chang came in third in the same event with a time of 2:28.48.

"It was really exciting to hear Hopkins announced as the overall girl's team winner," said Foster. "We all worked so hard to get there and it was the first time that this team accomplished something of this caliber together. Winning Blue Grass has been our top goal since the very beginning of the season, and every meet since then was just preparing us for the competition that we faced in Ohio."

Hopkins swept the 200-yard backstroke, taking first through third. Sophomore Erica Pakkala won with a time of 2:07.30. The win was her second overall as well as her second NCAA Division III provisional mark.

Senior Katie Herbst came in just over a second behind Pakkala to claim second place. Her time of 2:08.66 was also an NCAA Division III qualifying time. In third place was freshman Kate Hansen with a time of 2:10.37

"The team did a great job of overcoming Thursday morning's injury [senior Kalei Walker broke her hand], and I think each of us swam a little bit harder knowing that Kalei could not be with us in the pool," said Foster. "NCAA Championships are now only a few weeks away, and it's exciting to know it will be held in one of the fastest pools in the country."

Senior Stephanie Leaman placed first in the 1000-yard freestyle and second in the 1650-yard freestyle in 18:03.58. Freshman Elissa Stautner finished behind Leaman in the event, placing third with a time of 18:20.95

"The Blue Grass Invitational was a victorious first place finish for us," said Leaman. "Everyone swam their best and we were able to overcome some upsets. There were numerous first place finishes that helped lead us to taking first. It was a bittersweet experience for me, since it was my last college performance, but I am extremely proud of how all the girls competed, and better yet, had a blast while doing it."

Freshman Kristen Cunningham finished second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.94. Hopkins swimmers placed both second and third in the 200-yard butterfly. Sophomore Stephanie Laperle was second, in 2:09.76, which was an NCAA provisional time. Junior Kelly Robinson was third, in 2:10.57.

"Overall, many of the girls had amazing weekends which resulted in top three places in every event except one relay," said Robinson. "It was also great that every girl on the team made it back for finals at night in some event. Because of each girl on the team, as a whole, we were able to win the meet for the first time after our second place finish to Wingate University last year."

Robinson emphasized that it was a team performance all the way.

"Every girl should be very excited about their contributions to the team and feel good about how the season finished," she said.

The Hopkins women's team, including Robinson, will find out Thursday if their provisional times will be good enough for the NCAA Division III Championships, which will be held in Minneapolis, Minn. next month.

"We need to focus and get through these next few weeks, knowing that the entire team is behind us," said Foster. "I think that's the best part of this team, we may not all be best friends -- but when someone is in the water, every girl is behind her block cheering, genuinely wanting her to do her best. We really do support each other in every way."

Qualifiers from the Hopkins men's team will compete at the ECAC Championships this weekend in Pittsburgh, and then will also head to the NCAA Championships on March 16. Last year, the men placed third at nationals, while the women were 11th.