Delgehausen shines as Wildcats swim past Eagles

The women's swimming and diving team traveled south on Saturday Jan. 17 for a meet against the Eagles from Georgia Southern. At the end of the meet the Wildcats had squeaked out a 123-118 victory. Each of the swimmers continued their strong performances from the meet at Duke University a week earlier.

This meet began with the 400-yard medley relay, in which the Wildcats' ‘A' Team took top honors. Anna Stringfield '11, Caroline Curtiss '10, Emily Castle '11 and Courtney Sanders '09 teamed up to win the race with a time of 3:59.63. In the 1000-yard freestyle event, Jessica Delgehausen '10 finished first with a time of 10:22.13.

Next up was the 200-yard freestyle, and Stringfield picked up another win with a time of 1:54.56. In the 50-yard freestyle which is known as the "splash and dash" because of its fast nature, Lindsey Martin '11 and Castle finished second and third respectively with times of 24.11 and 24.74. Martin's time was .01 behind the winner Courtney Martz from Georgia Southern. In the 400-yard individual medley, Lauren Kamperman '12 finished second, with a time of 4:36.97.

Linnea Buttermore '10 backed up her solid performance in the Diving events in last week's meet, as she finished first and second in the 1 and 3 meter diving competitions. In the 100-yard freestyle, Martin and Sanders went 1-2 with times of 52.48 and 52.63 respectively.

In the 200-yard backstroke, Stringfield, Madden, and Bertram went 2-3-4. Stringfield finished a mere 0.25 behind the winner. Delgehausen and Sheetz went 1-2 in the 500-yard freestyle, as Delgehausen won with a time of 5:03.64. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, which marked the conclusion of the meet, the Wildcats' ‘A' Team finished second with a time of 3:35.17.

One week earlier on January 10, the Davidson men's and women's swimming teams traveled to Duke University to compete against the Blue Devils and the Gamecocks from South Carolina in a three-team meet. At the end of thirty-two events, the Wildcats fell short against both Duke and USC. The men's team lost to Duke 151-118, while the women's team lost 160.5-120.5. Against USC, the men's team lost 157-116 and the women's team lost 150-121. Although the Wildcats couldn't manage a victory, there were many bright spots for both the men's and women's teams.

On the men's side, Ben Lane '12 got the Wildcats off to a solid start with a third place finish and a score of 223.25 in the 1 meter diving event. Later on, Lane finished second and scored 265.90 in the 3 meter diving event. Lane's performance earned him CCSA's Men's Diver of the Week. In the 1000 Yard Freestyle Event, Captain Merritt Peele '09 finished in 9:55.56, which earned him a second place finish against Duke and a third place finish against USC.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Peele finished in 21.98 which was good enough for third place against Duke and fourth place against USC. In the 500-yard freestyle, Peele finished first with a time of 4:50.29. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Peele swam the lead leg, which helped the Wildcats finish first in that event with a time of 3:13.58. Peele's leadership, endurance, and overall performance in this week's meet earned him CCSA's men's swimmer of the week.

Curtis Chaney '12, Scott Frantz, Jr. '09, Geoffrey Peitz '12, Joe Burquist '12 and Ben Lucas '11 also performed well. Chaney got his day off to a solid start with a second place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, with a time of 1:44.44. Later on he finished in fourth place with a time of 48.48 at the 100-yard freestyle. In the 500-yard freestyle, Chaney finished only behind teammate Peele, with a time of 4:59.98. Chaney finished his day with a first place finish as a member of the 400-yard freestyle relay. In the 200-yard medley relay, Frantz, Jr. swam the opening leg, which helped propel the Wildcats to a second place finish. Later on, Frantz, Jr. finished fifth in the 200-yard backstroke, with a time of 2:00.45. Peitz's best performance came in the 400-yard individual medley as he won the event with a time of 4:13.52.

Burquist, like Frantz, Jr., began his meet as a member of the 200-yard medley relay team. He swam the third leg of the race for the runner-ups. Burquist finished second only to teammate Miller Williams '10 in the 100-yard butterfly. Lucas won the 200-yard breaststroke when he with a time of 2:19.70. Lucas finished his day in the 400-yard individual medley, as he finished runner-up behind teammate Peitz. Lucas swam the race in a time of 4:24.47.

The women's team was just as impressive as there were several stand-out performances in their meet against Duke and USC. In the 200-yard medley relay, Martin, Curtiss, Castle and Sanders  teamed up to finish in second place. In the 200-yard freestyle, Anna Stringfield '11 finished second with a time of 1:53.40. In the 100-yard backstroke, Castle finished in second with a time of 1:02.18. Also competing in the event was Sarah Bertram '09, who finished in fifth with a time of 1:04.08. Martin finished in second place in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events with times of 24.00 and 52.03 respectively. In that same 100-yard freestyle, Sanders finished fifth with a time of 53.61.

In the 200-yard backstroke, Stringfield finished in second place with a time of 2:07.76 In the 200 Yard Breaststroke Event, Curtiss took top honors with a time of 2:34.49. In the 500-yard freestyle, Jessica Delgehausen '11 finished first with a time of 5:09.20 and her teammate Ream finished second with a time of 5:15.08.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Castle and Sanders finished in the top two slots with times of 58.70 and 59.29 respectively. Likewise, in the 400-yard individual medley, Stringfield and Lauren Kamperman '12 went 1-2 with times 4:36.00 and 4:39.41 respectively. The Wildcats ended the day well, as Casey Van Tassell '12 joined up with Martin, Delgehausen, and Castle to take first place in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The men's and women's swimming and diving team will see action next Saturday, Jan. 24, when they host Gardner-Webb University.
The meet will begin at 1:00 p.m.