NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton College swimming and diving teams kicked off the 2009-10 swim season by hosting the Carleton/St. Olaf relays. The meet featured nontraditional events with the primary goal of providing opportunities for multiple swims by team members in each event. The entry fee for the nine-school meet was one non-perishable food item per student-athlete. This year an estimated 150 pounds of food were donated to the local Northfield Community Action Food Shelf.
"The meet was fun and spirited but with excellent competitive races as well, giving some early season insights into the strength and depth of each program,” said Carleton head coach Andy Clark. “Both our teams were consistently in the mix for top honors in each relay. We saw excellent efforts and results from both teams today, and I think that many of our swimmers were pleased with how they performed.
“This meet provided our team with that first tune up check, and while there were many positives today, we have plenty of things to work on in terms of technique and continued skill development. The team energy, though, was outstanding throughout the entire meet."
Swimmers from Carleton, Augsburg College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Hamline University, Moorhead State University, St. Catherine University, Saint Mary’s University, St. Olaf College, and the University of St. Thomas took part in the meet, which served as the official kick-off to the competitive season for most of the teams.
A sampling of the nontraditional events includes the mixed 200-yard medley relay and the 900-yard freestyle relay involving nine swimmers per relay entry.
The Carleton women captured top honors in a pair of events, the 300-yard backstroke relay and the 1100-yard animal relay.
The quartet of Annie Metcalf (So./Bath, Maine/Morse), Kale Zicafoose (Jr./Omaha, Neb./Westside), Maggie Alexander (So./Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin), and Maddie Epping (Fy./Eden Prairie, Minn.) finished the backstroke relay with a time of 2:56.68. The grouping of Kelsey Ihinger (Sr./Eden Prairie, Minn.), Kate Alexander (Sr./Tigard, Ore./Tualatin), and Molly Spence (Fy./Tacoma, Wash.) posted a 26-second victory in the animal relay.
The Knights host the University of St. Thomas in a dual meet at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6.
