Women's swimming places sixth thanks to eight, top-10 performances

GRINNELL, Iowa - The Simpson women's swimming and diving team turned in eight, top-10 performances en-route to a sixth-place finish of 11 teams at the Pioneer Classic this weekend. 

Mikala Williams-Yee and Haley Blum accounted for four of the five individual top-10 efforts for the Storm, who competed in their first multi-team meet of the season.

Williams-Yee had the team's top finish, taking sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.95). She also came in 10th in the 200 breaststroke (2:45.68). Blum took ninth in both the 100 breaststroke (1:15.27) and 200 breaststroke (2:44.21).

Tori Haag added the other top-ten effort, coming in ninth in the 100 IM (1:07.71).

Three relays finished in the top-10, led by ninth-place efforts in the 200 and 400 medley relays. The team of Megan Buitendorp, Williams-Yee, Erica Carlson and Haag were responsible for both, as the 200 medley swam 2:01.82 and the 400 swan 4:25.91. The 800 freestyle relay team of Emma Gerdis, Katherine Rubins, Emma Schlenker and Marissa Stepleton came in 10th (9:29.96).

Up next: Simpson is off for a little more than a month, returning to action January 7th against Austin College (Texas). 

Meet report

50 freestyle – 23. Erica Carlson, 27.28; 27. Mikala Williams-Yee, 27.72; 34. Alexis Leslie, 28.27; 35. Megan Buitendorp, 28.42; 62. Meghan Van Brogen, 32.22; 63. Emily Krueger, 32.35; 68. Valeria Gonzalez, 32.83; 69. Maria Claussen, 34.55

100 freestyle – 20. Emma Gerdis, 59.77; 48. Meghan Van Brogen, 1:10.79; 53. Maria Claussen, 1:16.20; 56. Valeria Gonzalez, 1:19.00

200 freestyle – 21, Katherine Rubins, 2:17.96; 22. Alex Vander Veen, 2:18.29; 29. Meghan Van Brogen, 2:31.53

500 freestyle – 14. Tori Haag, 5:51.36; 20. Emma Gerdis, 6:00.48; 26. Alex Vander Veen, 6:08.13; 27. Katherine Rubins, 6:09.95; 34. Marissa Stepleton, 6:31.54

1650 freestyle – 16. Katherine Rubins, 21:57.45

100 backstroke – 13. Megan Buitendorp, 1:07.86; 15. Erica Carlson, 1:08.31; 25. Emily Krueger, 1:15.77

200 backstroke – 13. Megan Buitendorp, 2:26.93; 16. Eric Carlson, 2:30.66; 26. Emily Krueger, 2:46.16

100 butterfly – 12. Emma Schlenker, 1:08.88; 17. Alex Vander Veen, 1:12.32; 23. Madison Behney, 1:24.18

200 butterfly – 12. Emma Schlenker, 2:34.70; 15. Alex Vander Veen, 2:47.68

100 breaststroke – 6. Mikala Williams-Yee, 1:13.95; 9. Haley Blum, 1:15.27; 11. Emma Gerdis, 1:15.90; 28. Marissa Stepleton, 1:27.83; 31. Maria Claussen, 1:30.53

200 breaststroke – 9. Haley Blum, 2:44.21; 10. Mikala Williams-Yee, 2:45.68; 19. Marissa Stepleton, 3:05.13

100 IM – 9. Tori Haag, 1:07.71; 24. Madison Behney, 1:17.13; 26. Kristina Smith, 1:18.17

200 IM – 20. Emma Schlenker, 2:32.25; 21. Haley Blum, 2:32.27; 28. Kristina Smith, 2:49.03; Madison Behney, dq

400 IM – 11. Tori Haag, 5:12.66; 19. Kristina Smith, 6:16.59

200 freestyle relay – 11. Haag, Buitendorp, Blum, Carlson, 1:48.79; 16. Williams-Yee, Schlenker, Gerdis, Vander Veen, 1:53.48; 21. Rubins, Behney, Krueger, Leslie, 1:59.76; 24. Smith, Van Brogen, Claussen, Gonzalez, 2:10.02

400 freestyle relay – 11. Haag, Carlson, Gerdis, Blum, 4:01.92; 20. Williams-Yee, Schlenker, Rubins, Buitendorp, 4:21.03; 24. Stepleton, Van Brogen, Vander Veen, Claussen, 4:47.36

800 freestyle relay – 10. Gerdis, Rubins, Schlenker, Stepleton, 9:29.96; 12. Smith, Behney, Krueger,Van Brogen, 10:19.42

200 medley relay – 9. Buitendorp, Williams-Yee, Carlson, Haag, 2:01.82; 16. Krueger, Blum, Vander Veen, Rubins, 2:11.14; 23. Van Brogen, Stepleton, Behney, Claussen, 2:25.53

400 medley relay – 9. Buitendorp, Williams-Yee, Carlson, Haag, 4:25.91; 13. Leslie, Blum, Schlenker, Gerdis, 4:37.14; 20. Krueger, Stepleton, Behney, Smith, 5:15.26

Team scores – 1. Grinnell, 1385; 2. Carroll, 1223.5; 3. Ripon, 475; 4. Monmouth, 412; 5. Nebraska Wesleyan, 368.5; 6. Simpson, 338; 7. Knox, 253; 8. Beloit, 245; 9. Illinois College, 241; 10. Principia, 186; 11. Luther, 116