Bowing Green, Ky. - The WKU men’s and women’s swimming teams returned to action on Thursday against Xavier University in a Winter Training Meet. The Lady Toppers defeated Xavier by a score of 52-18 while the Hilltoppers dominated Xavier 60-10.
On the women’s side, WKU picked up four first place finishes and four second place finishes. In the 3x100 Fly, WKU took first place behind Claire Donahue, Chelsea Larsen and Chelsea Stephens with a time of 2:57.87. WKU also picked up second place in the event posting a time of 3:08.05 behind the efforts of Kristiana Feeser, Kate Sweeney and Arrika Bales.
The Lady Toppers also finished first and second in the 3x100 Backstroke with the trio of Kaitlyn Casper, Jennifer Adams and Claire Alexandre winning the event with a time of 3:01.27 and Stephanie Terrell, Casey DeRidder and Marissa Heebner finishing second with a time of 3:01.75.
In the 3x100 Breaststroke, WKU took second and third place behind Xavier who finished in the top spot for the teams only win. The second place team of Brittany Doss, Stephanie Martin and Kara McCarthy finished second with a time of 3:30.27 and Christie Beck, Courtney Sorrell and Katie Marquess finished in the third spot after touching the wall in 3:37.48.
Donahue, Alexandre and Larsen picked up their second win of the night in the 3x100 IM where the trio finished with a time of 3:04.78. Finally for the women, WKU swept the 4x100 Freestyle relays posting top times of 2:44.59 and 2:50.42.
For the Hilltoppers, the team finished first and second in every event not allowing Xavier to place higher than third in any event. In the 3x100 Fly, the Hilltoppers claimed first and second with times of 2:38.73 and 2:43.06. Endi Babi, Andrew Bloink and Lukasz Herbst led the Hilltoppers in first place while Nick Slattery, Zachary Payne and Adam Pendry finished second.
In the 3x100 Backstroke, David Menchinger, Ethan Arave and Mitch Miller captured first place for WKU with a time of 2:41.83 and Cameron Watkins, Chris Donahue and Chris Housden finished second with a time of 2:46.02. The Hilltoppers posted times of 3:02.46 and 3:07.08 in the 3x100 Breaststroke to finish first and second in the event. The first place team consisted of Cameron Brown, Jon Myers and Bryan Mell and the second place team was the trio of Trey Chelf, Scott Johnson and Kurt Greene.
Greg Gerum, Cameron Higdon and Menchinger paced the field in the 3x100 IM taking home first place after posting a time of 2:47.16. Babi, Sean Shannon and Watkins picked up another second place finish in the event after finishing with a time of 2:52.47. WKU also captured first and second place in the 4x100 Freestyle.
WKU will return to the pool on Saturday, Jan. 17 when they host Evansville University at 1 p.m. CST. The Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers will be honoring all seniors during the meet for the annual Senior Day.
