Women’s swimming team opens season at MIAA Relays
The Olivet College women’s swimming team opened its 2012-13 campaign by participating in the unscored MIAA Relays tonight at the Venema Aquatic Center in Grand Rapids. It was also the first meet for first-year Olivet Head Coach Elise Knoche.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Olivet College women's swimming team opened its 2012-13 campaign by participating in the unscored Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Relays tonight at the Venema Aquatic Center in Grand Rapids. It was also the first meet for first-year Olivet Head Coach Elise Knoche.
Counting only "A" relays from all schools, the Comets had three relays finish in fourth-place. The first one to place fourth was the 200-yard backstroke quartet of Kaitlin Smith (Port Huron), Katie Dobis (Munster, Ind.), Sarah Crittenden (Metamora/Lapeer East) and Chelsea Mullins (Macomb/L'Anse Creuse North), and it finished in 2:02.34. Smith had the third-fastest leadoff split at 30.38 seconds.
The next one to bring home a fourth-place finish was Dobis, Alivia Hammond (Byron Center), Britnee Jackson (Sturgis) and Mullins in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of a 56.46 seconds. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Kira Gates (Grosse Ile), Hammond, Kristin Long (Pemberville, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) and Jazmin Johnson (Grand Rapids/Northview) placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:44.68.
Olivet's 200-yard breaststroke relay – Long, Johnson, Jana Blodgett (Sturgis) and Raquel Mazur (Griffith, Ind.) – was fifth in 2:24.10. In the 3x500-yard freestyle relay, Gates, Mullins and Long stopped the clock at 17:41.79 to finish in fifth. Also finishing in fifth was Blodgett, Mazur, Jackson and Smith in the 100-yard breaststroke relay at 1:06.15.
The Comets will open their dual meet schedule next Saturday, Oct. 27, when they host defending MIAA champion Calvin College at 1 p.m.