Storm take 10th at Grinnell
GRINNELL, Iowa – The Simpson women's swimming team swam to a 10th place finish of 11 teams at the Grinnell Invitational on Jan. 18-19.
Nebraska-Omaha won the meet with 1,058 points, followed by Gustavus Adolphus (1,000) and Luther (759). Simpson scored 104 points, beating out Saint Mary (44).
"The team had some challenges to overcome this weekend," interim head coach Eric Crawford said. "We are in the middle of our sprint phase and the team went into the meet really tired. The team had to learn how to swim fast even though their bodies were exhausted. It was a true test of mental strength. Friday morning the team struggled a bit to find strength, but by the end of finals Friday the team learned to push themselves faster."
The Storm's top individual effort came from Christina Amburgy. The freshman took 24th in the 100 freestyle, touching the wall in 58.08 seconds. She also placed 30th in the 200 freestyle, completing the stroke in 2:11.15 after setting a new season-best of 2:08.62 in the preliminaries.
Hannah Yarbrough placed 26th in the 1,650 freestyle (20:56.22) and Megan Lein took 30th in the 100 breaststroke (1:20.27) to round out Simpson's other individual efforts.
Simpson's top relay was the 800 freestyle relay, where the team of Amburgy, Lein, Yarbrough and Marissa Stepleton placed 18th in 9:33.02.
"When swimming as tired as they were this weekend, it really takes an entire team to help lift one another up," Crawford said. "There were a few races where our times weren't quite where they normally are and it wears you down mentally. But the team lifted each other's confidence up during Friday's Finals and they accomplished some great things. Not all teams have synergy like ours does."
The Storm host Iowa Lakes Community College in the final home dual of the season on Friday, Jan. 25 at 6 p.m.
