By Hannah Hecht–Freshman Tracy Gates lead the Lady Mustangs in their first meet this weekend at the Morningside Women’s Challenge against NCAA Division II Northern State University and Division III University of Minnesota-Morris.
Gates finished the mile in 18:50.51, an NAIA national qualifying time and a full 50 seconds ahead of the second place Northern State swimmer. She finished the 1000 in 11.15.53, 35 seconds ahead of the second place swimmer. Gates also snatched second place in the 500 yard freestyle (5.35.77) and swam alongside teammates Mikki Suchomel, Jaimie Fast, and Evelyn Edge to second place in the 400 free relay (3:56.88).
“I think the first meet went well,” says Gates, “And I’m excited for the rest of the season.
Suchomel, another freshman, was successful as well. She grabbed individual second place finishes in the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke races, in times of 1:13.87 and 2:42.69, respectively.
Other notable individual finishes include Hannah Hecht’s second place in the 200 yard backstroke (2:25.51) and third place in the 100 yard backstroke (1:09.31), Edge’s third place in the 200 and 500 yard freestyle races (2:06.28 and 5:48.91), and Fast’s third place in the 200 yard backstroke (2:30.75).
Morningside lost against the University of Minnesota-Morris 203-168 and against Northern State 277.5 to 91.5.
Despite the loss, the Lady Mustangs are optimistic about the upcoming season.
“We may have not scored as many points as we would like, but we’re at a better starting point than we’ve been in previous years,” said senior captain Jenna Bowmaster. “The women’s team has great chemistry and that will help us to grow as a team in the future.”
The women’s swim team will join the Mustang men’s team in action on Nov. 8 at Coe College and Nov. 9 at Augustana College.
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