Storm swimmers gear up for stretch run at Nebraska Wesleyan

LINCOLN, Neb. – The Simpson swimming and diving teams traveled to Nebraska Wesleyan on Saturday for their final tune-up before the Liberal Arts Championships, coming away with three wins on the women's side.

The Storm women lost to the Prairie Wolves 103-94 while the men fell 136.5-43.5. The women came away with three first-place efforts while the men collected six runner-up finishes.

"We wanted to get a few things finalized and line-ups set before Liberal Arts," head coach Tom Caccia said. "This meet gave us the chance to run some events and make those decisions."

On the women's side, Tori Haag was involved in two of Simpson's three wins, touching the wall first in the 200 IM in 2:28.05. Her teammate, Haley Blum, came in second in 2:31.75. The duo joined Megan Buitendorp and Erica Carlson to win the 200 medley relay in 2:03.50.

The Storm's other win came in the 1,000 freestyle where Jordan Greenwood distanced herself from the pack, touching the wall in a season-best time of 12:48.48.

Women's Top Performances
50 freestyle – 4. Erica Carlson, 28.08
100 freestyle – 3. Emma Gerdis, 59.22; 4. Tori Haag, 59.29; 5. Meghan Van Brogen, 1:10.61
200 freestyle – 2. Emma Gerdis, 2:09.94
500 freestyle – 2. Jordan Greenwood, 6:05.64
1,000 freestyle – 1. Jordan Greenwood, 12:48.48
100 backstroke – 2. Megan Buitendorp, 1:08.15
100 butterfly – 2. Alex Vander Veen, 1:08.31
100 breaststroke – 2. Mikala Williams-Yee, 1:14.81; 3. Haley Blum, 1:16.28
200 IM – 1. Tori Haag, 2:28.05; 2. Haley Blum, 2:31.75
200 freestyle relay – 2. Greenwood, Gerdis, Buitdendorp, Williams-Yee
200 medley relay – 1. Buitendorp, Blum, Haag, Carlson, 2:03.50

The short-handed men's squad managed six second-place efforts, led by two from Nicholas Collison. The freshman came in second in the 200 IM (2:21.55) and the 100 backstroke (1:03.12).

Dylan Gray came in second in the 50 freestyle (2:05.14), Michael Reuter took second in the 100 butterfly (1:01.98) and Zachary Lindeberg placed second in the 500 freestyle (5:52.39). The 200 freestyle relay quartet of Matthew Van Brogen, Reuter, Lindeberg and Scott Wailes also took second, finishing in 1:45.36.

Men's Top Performances
50 freestyle – 2. Dylan Gray, 23.05
200 freestyle – 5. Michael Reuter, 2:05.14
500 freestyle – 2. Zachary Lindeberg, 5:52.39
100 backstroke – 2. Nicholas Collison, 1:03.12
100 butterfly – 2. Michael Reuter, 1:01.98
100 breaststroke – 4. Kyle McKim, 1:04.46
200 IM – 2. Nicholas Collison, 2:21.55
200 freestyle relay – 2. Van Brogen, Reuter, Lindeberg, Wailes, 1:45.36 
200 medley relay – 3. Collison, McKim, Gray, Wailes, 1:49.44

Up Next
Simpson goes to the Liberal Arts Championships in Principia, Ill. on Wednesday, Feb. 10. The NCAA Qualifying meet runs through Saturday, Feb. 13.

"I think we are a little ahead of last year at this point," Caccia said. "We have some work to do with the numbers for men, but for women, we will be scoring 17 people. The limit for the Liberal Arts meet is 18 per team so we are at the numbers we need. We look forward to entering the meet with a full compliment of swimmers."