UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University swimming and diving teams celebrated Senior Day with a tri-meet against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes Wayne State University and Northern Michigan University Saturday at the Gerstacker Regional Aquatic Center.
Prior to the start of the swimming events, the Cardinals honored 11 senior student-athletes, including Kyle Amick, Libby Caird, Kimble Darbee, Mason Hooker, Jefferson Kusterer, Megan LaFollette, Cameron Mathews, Sanders Modglin, Justin Ott, Sarah Thompson, and Matthew VanCoppenolle.
"It was awesome to honor our 11 seniors," SVSU Head Swim Coach Jason Lintjer said. "They're all great representatives of SVSU and we will certainly miss their presence next year."
The SVSU men fell to Wayne State 215-73 and to Northern Michigan 191-107, while the women also dropped both duals, 198-97 to WSU and 179-111 to NMU.
"We had a great meet atmosphere with two other teams on the pool deck," Lintjer said. "I was happy with our effort and how we competed. The team was pretty tired and made some errors towards the end of the meet, but overall I'm happy where we're at heading into the GLIAC championships."
Men's Highlights:
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Justin Ott closed his final home meet in impressive fashion, with a score of 455.65 in the men's 1-meter diving event, qualifying for the NCAA DII Championships. NOTE: Ott was granted 11 dives to attempt to meet the qualifying standard for the NCAA, while the rest of the field took six dives.
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Adrian McGill took first in the 3-meter diving event with a score of 208.75, while finishing second in the 1-meter with a score of 211.70.
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Christian Rottier was edged at the wall and took second place in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 56.43 seconds.
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The team of Juan-Luke Hamilton, Evan Lindquist, Joshua Hamilton, and Kyle Amick touched the wall third in the 200-yard freestyle relay to close the meet.
Women's Highlights:
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Libby Caird won the women's 1-meter diving with a score of 253.25, while also taking the 3-meter with a score of 258.15.
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Chelsea Fenton placed second in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 18:28.26.
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Sydney Shipps was third for SVSU in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:57.82.
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Erin McDowell led the Cardinals in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing second in 58.19 seconds.
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Emma Cornell was third in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:07.01 and added a third-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle in 24.56 seconds.
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The team of McDowell, Lisette Fenneuff, Kimble Darbee and Cornell placed third in the 400-yard medley relay in 3:59.05.
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SVSU was also third in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the team of Zoe Vance, Kelsie Thomas, Kiersten Stoddard and McDowell touching in 1:40.10.
The Cardinals now prepare for the GLIAC Championships set for Feb. 17-20 at the Holland Community Aquatic Center in Hollad, Mich.
