GEORGETOWN – The Southwestern University men's and women's swimming and diving teams ran away with an impressive win Saturday in dual competition against NCAA-II McMurry that saw the Pirates dominate in the pool.
Both men's and women's sides showed depth on Saturday, with several 1-3 finishes against the WarHawks.
On the women's side, Southwestern finished in the top three spots in the 100-yard breastroke, 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley. The Pirate women also placed first, second and third in 3-meter diving competition as McMurry did not travel with divers.
Madison Doty was impressive in the pool for the Pirate women taking home three first place titles including a combined effort in the 200-meter freestyle relay. Doty was nearly five second better than teammate Alex Morris with a time of 2:02.28 in the 200-yard freestyle and finished a second better than teammate Emmy Gradisar with a time of 57.58 in the 100-yard freestyle.
The women also got a top four finish in the 200-yard individual medley as Alex Morris led the way with a time of 2:23.50 followed by Kenly Gaynor's second place time of 2:24.05. Emily Haskell and Mara Weidmann rounded out the final two for the Pirates in the 200-yard IM.
Haskell and Gaynor were able to swim to first place finishes in the 200-yard breastroke and 200-yard freestyle, respectively.
The Pirate women's 400 medley relay also took home first place with a time of 4:21.83 as the team of Doty, Haskell, Weidmann and Gradisar edged their teammates and the WarHawks by two seconds.
On the men's side the Pirate relays in the 400-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relay also took home first place honors. It was the first of two, first-place finishes for Kyler Wood, Simmon Belaineh and Alex Christensen as the team also got a solid effort on the second leg from Dylan Johnson.
Wood picked up two more first-place finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 100-yard backstroke. The junior blew away the competition in the 200-yard breast with a time of 2:13.48 as he edged a trio of WarHawk swimmers in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 57.02.
Southwestern also earned a one through four finish in the 100-yard freestyle with Belaineh leading the way. The first-year swimmer earned a time of 48.57 as Johnson pushed Belaineh with a second-place time of 48.98. Zach Kline and Daniel Withers rounded out the top four places for the Pirates in the event.
A solid effort in the 200-yard freestyle saw Southwestern take home the top three positions as well. Johnson earned a first-place finish with a time of 1:50.68 while Belaineh finished second with a time of 1:51.46. CJ Payne finished third with a time of 1:57.82.
The schedule for the Pirate swimmers ramps up before the semester break with a pair of dual meets next weekend against Oklahoma Baptist and Austin College. Southwestern begins action Friday against defending NAIA National Champion Oklahoma Baptist before a dual with SCAC rival Austin on Saturday.