Simpson swimmers finish season at Liberal Arts Championships

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Simpson swim team completed the 2010-11 season at the Liberal Arts Championships in Cedar Rapids last weekend, placing 10th of 11 teams.

Luther won the three-day meet with 923 points, followed by Lindenwood (664), Loras (362), Coe (345), McMurry (338), Illinois Tech (312), Minnesota-Morris (216), Principia (122), Franklin (88), Simpson (74) and Eureka (11).

Simpson's 200-yard medley relay team of Anna Aldridge, Keely Goshia, Erin Gerken and Catherine Mayes produced the team's top relay finish of the weekend, placing ninth with a time of 2:06.18. That time bettered their preliminary time by better than seven seconds.

Mayes turned in the top individual finish of the day for the Storm, a 13th-place effort in the 200-yard backstroke. She swam a 2:38.36 in the preliminaries and improved to 2:36.15 in the finals. She also placed 19th in the 100-yard backstroke (1:13.60) and 20th in the 200-yard IM (2:39.01).

Goshia took 14th in the 100-yard butterfly and 15th in the 200-yard IM. She swam a 1:11.19 in the preliminaries of the 100 fly, the final qualifying time. In the finals she moved up a spot, finishing in 1:09.8. In the 200, she qualified for the finals with a 2:30.13 and touched the wall in 2:28.58 in the finals.

Aldridge qualified for the finals in the 200-yard freestyle, placing 16th in a time of 2:12.63. She placed 20th in the 100 free (1:00.11) and 29th in the 50 free (27.76).

Gerken took 22nd in both the 100 free (1:01.76) and 200 free (2:19.65) and 31st in the 50 free (28.60).

Stacy Sturlaugson rounded out Simpson's performance with a 22nd-place finish in the 100 backstroke (1:19.67), a 26th-place effort in the 100 free (1:08.82) and a 29th-place finish in the 500 free (7:15.95).