Hansen breaks records in diving, men's swimming split in season opening double-duel
INDIANOLA, Iowa – Dylan Gray won the 50-yard freestyle and Kyle McKim took first in the 100-yard breaststroke as the Storm men went 1-1 in their season opening double-duel with Coe College and Tabor College at the Indianola YMCA.
Final Scores:
Simpson 128, Tabor 60
Coe 154, Tabor 38
Coe 138, Simpson 84
Gray edged Tabor's Tristan Ward by just 0.52 seconds, finishing the 50-yard freestyle in 23.09, 0.81 seconds behind his season-high in the same event last season.
After a strong finish to last season, McKim started off in the same fashion, edging Coe's Tucker Dangremond by 0.19 seconds, touching the wall in 1:02.31.
"It was nice swimming against someone and having that competition," McKim said. "I felt that coming into this year I knew what to do right after the bat."
Other Finishers:
- Kyle McKim – 3rd: 200 yard IM (2:14.89)
- Michael Reuter – 3rd: 100-yard butterfly (1:01.21)
- Grant Gullickson – 3rd: 100-yard backstroke (1:11.90)
The Coe (3-1, 2-1) had eight first place finishers, led by Corbin Faidley who placed first in the 100-yard freestyle, the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle relay – posting a team-best 22.84 in his leg of the race.
The Tabor Bluejays fell to 0-3 on the season, failing to record a first place finisher.
Diving Results:
Senior JJ Hansen not only won the one-meter and three-meter diving competitions but broke the school records that he set in each of the last two seasons.
Hansen recorded a 196.20 in the one-meter dive, 24.30 points better than his previously held record set in 2014. He would shatter his record of 175.75 in the three-meter dive with a score of 212.30, 50.34 points better than the Coe's Justin Sauter.
"JJ was much more relaxed in his dives and he was confident," head coach Tom Caccia said of Hansen. "He's done all the dives before and none of them were new. He was just able to focus on diving."
Up Next
Simpson is back in the pool next Friday when it hosts IIAC-rival Loras College at 6 p.m. at the Indianola YMCA.
"We are going to be going with different events [next week] but we got some information this week that is going to help us next week," Caccia said.
