Swimmers Break Multiple Records in Win over LaGrange
Berry's men's and women's swim teams combined to break 14 team or pool records as the Vikings rolled to victories over LaGrange College Saturday at the Cage Center Natatorium.
Berry's men defeated LaGrange 106-33, while the women defeated the Panthers 132-36.
"I was expecting records to fall, but not that many that early (in the season)" Berry head coach Paul Flinchbaugh said. "There were so many standout performances. We had a few swimmers break a couple records each, but we also had a lot of other swimmers get personal best times."
Berry wasted little time setting the tone for the afternoon, breaking eight team and pool records in the first three races of the meet.
The Vikings' women's 200 yard medley relay team of Molly Scott, Sarah Larson, Kelly Dickerson and Rachel Sandoval finished in a time of 2:07.49 to break both records. In the same event, Berry's men's team of Alan Campbell, Eric Miller, Shelburne Jackson and Graydon McCrite finished in a time of 1:52.91 to set new pool and team marks.
In the mixed 1,000 yard freestyle, in which the male and female competitors swim the event at the same time but are only competing against swimmers of the same gender, two Berry swimmers broke pool and team records in the same event.
Andrew Beumer finished the race with a mark of 11:07.92, while Kayla Sanner set the women's records with a time of 12:32.08.
"Andrew's time was substantially below the best time he'd ever put up in that event," Flinchbaugh said.
In the next event, another record fell, as Kelly Dickerson set the pool record in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:03.65.
McCrite and Beumer would go on to set other records for the men, with McCrite taking down the team and pool records in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 55.74, and Beumer setting a new team mark in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:24.91.
John Burcham later set a new team record with a time of 1:06.89 in the 100 yard breaststroke, and the women's 400 yard freestyle relay squad of Sandoval, Scott, Julie Zimmerman and Mariah Moon took down the old team mark in that event by finishing with a time of 4:00.00.
"One of the big contributing factors to our team's success today was its cohesiveness," Flinchbaugh said. "Upperclassmen and freshmen alike stepped up and swam well today."
Flinchbaugh likes the momentum his teams have built coming out of their season opener as they prepare for a home meet against King College Oct. 30.
"To say it (Saturday's performance) starts the ball rolling is a good statement, but that ball is a lot bigger now," Flinchbaugh said. "It would be hard to find a meet that could be more motivational to one team than this one was for us today.
"I couldn't be prouder of the team or more happy with their performance."
- BerryVikings.com -