John Kipper, Staff Writer

The swim and dive team hit its stride going into the four-day conference meet with several swimmers setting personal and school bests. On day one, the 200-yard medley relay team, composed of Julia Bishop, Kathryn Friesz, Morgan Mangel and Mary McSharry, finished in a season-best time of 1:59.15, cutting over four seconds from the previously fastest run this season. The time was good for 10th place. In the 800-yard freestyle, Kristin Kaldahl, McSharry, Bishop and Mangel lopped twelve seconds off their previous fastest time this season en route to a 10th-place finish and a final time of 8:57.02.

On day two, Mangel set a new university record in the 50-yard freestyle (25.34) but came just short of making it into the finals, missing the mark by just a hundredth of a second. In the one-meter dive, junior Cassie Lehman placed eighth with a final score of 325.65 after 11 dives which placed her fourth in school history for the event.

On day three, Bishop, Friez, Mangel and McSharry swam the 200-yard freestyle relay, finishing in a time of 1:44.90, landing in 10th-place and is currently the fourth-fastest time in school history. Bishop also finished 23rd in the 400-yard individual medley. In the 100-yard butterfly, McSharry placed 19th with a time of 1:04.37. McSharry currently holds four of the 10 fastest butterfly times in school history.

On the last day of competition, the 400-yard freestyle relay (Bishop, Friesz, McSharry, Mangel) shredded their previous best time by almost 15 seconds, recording the fifth-fastest performance in school history (3:53.82). In the 200-yard butterfly, McSharry set a new season-best time and got 23rd with a time of 2:30.59. Bishop placed 28th with a time of 2:37.36. In the 50-yard freestyle, Mangel swam times of 55.83 and 55.46. The times are third and second-fastest in school history, just behind the school record she set last year (55.21). In the one-meter dive, Lehman got the sixth-highest score in school history and 12th at the meet with a composite score of 320.90.

Overall, it was an excellent season for the team with exponential improvements made throughout the season. With no seniors on the squad, the Auggies will return a venerable and seasoned squad that could be a dark horse team in the conference.

This article was originally published in the Feb. 22, 2019 issue.