Swim teams split at Coe

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The men's team won eight events and set three school records en-route to a 118-101 win over Coe as the Simpson swimming teams opened the 2013 portion of the schedule on Saturday.

Megan Lein won two events for the women's team but the Storm suffered a 160-72 loss. The win moves the men to 1-2 on the year while the women are now 0-3.

"Today's meet was a true test of our training over the past couple of weeks," interim head coach Eric Crawford said. "We had a lot of season-best times today, but at the same time we still have a few things we need to adjust before the Liberal Arts Championships at the end of the season. A meet like today serves as a great gauge for what we really need to focus on heading into our 'taper' phase in a few weeks."

Men's Recap

James Tillison and Kyle McKim won three events each and Stephen Schmidt won two on the men's side.

Tillison won the 1,000 freestyle by a whopping 29 seconds, touching the wall in 11:17.62 to break the school record by nearly one minute (12:13.92 set by Nathan Schnedier in 2011-12). He also won the 100 (1:01.68) and 200 (2:25.23) butterfly.

McKim broke his own marks set earlier this season in winning the 100 and 200 breaststroke, finishing the 100 in 1:05.55 and the 200 in 2:26.66.

In his first contest of the season, Schmidt won the 100 (1:18.66) and 200 (2:19.61) backstroke.

"The men's program is the youngest in the IIAC and to come away with a win against a conference rival shows where this program is headed," Crawford said. "The potential of this team excites me, as the entire roster is made up of freshmen and sophomores. We still have a lot of room to grow."

Women's Recap

The duo of Lein and Marissa Stepleton dominated the breaststroke, finishing first and second in both the 100 and 200. Lein touched the wall in 1:18.66 in the 100, followed closely by Stepleton's 1:20.69. Lein finished in 2:52.44 in the 200 and Stepleton came in at 2:57.09.

Christina Amburgy trimmed five seconds off her previous best time in the 200 freestyle, going 2:09.60 to finish second.

"The women really stepped up today," Crawford said. "We knew that we were at a huge disadvantage heading into the meet since Coe had three divers, ultimately putting us 32 points behind before the meet even started. The addition of diving next season will really help at duals like we were in today."

Simpson goes to the Grinnell Invitational next weekend, Jan. 18-19.