By MILES SOUZA
The Beloit Buccaneer men’s and women’s swim teams competed in the Mid Season Championship, hosted at Beloit College. The Championship was held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Robert G. Nicholls Natatorium.
The Bucs headed into the Championship hot and looking to show their improvements. The women’s team has started the season off on fire, with an opening record of 3-0. The men’s team is sitting at a great 2-1 record, with two wins in their last two meets.
Thursday hosted the 3 meter diving competition where the Bucs could pick up some great points. They looked for great contributions from Beloit 3 meter dive record holder Helena Harrison ’25, who broke the school record in their last meet.
She exceeded expectations, with a fantastic six dive routine. She broke the record yet again, beating her own personal best with a score of 227.75. This was a start to another record breaking meet for the Buccaneers, which seems to be a very common occurrence with this year’s team.
Friday saw Day Two of the Championship, with prelims for the 1 meter diving (11 dives), and finals for many of the races. With a lot of key finals including the 200 freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, IM, and 500 freestyle, the Bucs looked to pick up key points heading into the weekend.
The 1 meter dive was highlighted by Harrison yet again. Harrison took another school record to put her name on the record board in three different places. Her score of 387.25, was the best 11 dive routine in Beloit history.
The Bucs saw more school record times from freshman swimmer Jeremy Mueller ’27, who has been a force to be reckoned with this entire first half of the season. It seems that he has been breaking records every time he dives into the pool.
Mueller not only took one school record, but two on Friday in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle. His scorching hot time of 50.59 in the 100 butterfly broke his own record by over a second. He also broke the freestyle record with a time of 45.95. Both races picked up great points for the Bucs.
The women’s team was in the lead at the conclusion of Friday after a great day of work. Their 306 points led the points totals for all teams on the men’s and women’s side, ahead of Ripon College by 26 points.
The men’s team concluded day two with 76 points, putting them in fourth. However, the coach seemed to set them up to pick up more points on day three to get them back into things.
Headed into Saturday there were many crucial finals. Mueller was on fire again, breaking the 50 freestyle record and the 200 freestyle record. Those school records are now 21.07 and 1:41.64.
At the conclusion of the Championship, the Bucs saw a fourth place finish and 156 total points for the men’s team, but a win for the women’s team. The women’s team ended the three day meet with 575 points, edging out Ripon by 29 points for another win on the season.
Featured Image Credit: Beloit College Athletics
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