Contact: Ashleigh Jones, Sports Information Graduate Assistant
 
Nov. 11, 2017 (RIPON, Wis.)- The North Central College men's and women's swimming and diving team split the Ripon Triangular against host Ripon College and Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin.
 
With both the men's and women's teams successfully out-swimming Beloit College in most of their heats, there is still room for improvement before the Cardinals can sweep its competition thoroughly.
 
The women's swimming team finished the evening with eight first-place finishes out of 11 events in which they placed.
 
Starting the meet strong with a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, teammates Katherine Canfield, Amy Feltz, Beth Ryan, and Samantha Kruzel swam a final time of 1:56.34.
 
The Cardinals continued to find first-place success in the 100-yard backstroke and breaststroke, by swimmers Danai Stylianou (1:06.27) and Canfield (1:16.30) respectively.
 
The final four individual first-place finishes came when North Central practically swept the 200-yard butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and individual medley.
 
Hannah Downing took first in the 200-yard butterfly (2:38.87) and in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:52.24.
 
The other two individual first-place finishes were received by Stylianou in the 200-yard individual medley (2:23.76) and Canfield in the 200-yard backstroke (2:11.59); which she happened to shave off about eight seconds off her original seed time.
 
Canfield was not the only top three finisher in the 200-yard backstroke; teammate Feltz came in at third with a time of 2:31.23.
 
Feltz also found success in the 50-yard freestyle earning a third-place finish with a time of 26.67.
 
Another member of the first-place medley relay team, Ryan earned two more top-three finishes. She swam the 200-yard freestyle with the time of 2:08.41 which was just about one second behind the first-place finisher. She also finished in third in the 500-yard freestyle shaving about five seconds from her seed time of 6:00.00 to 5:55.21.
 
Finishing the meet just as strong as they had started it, the team of Ryan, Stylianou, Canfield and Feltz won North Central's eighth first-place win in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:46.23.
 
Women's team scores:
North Central College: 98.00        Ripon College: 134.00        
North Central College: 100.00        Beloit College: 87.00
 
The North Central men's swimming team had a little bit harder time finding their rhythm yet placed in the top three in nine events, two of which they had two swimmers place.
 
Much like the women's team, the men's 200-yard medley relay teams earned top-three finishes. Ryan Lewellyan, Nick Mielke, Ian Greenway, and Austin Blaser received second-place with a time of 1:46.08. While teammates Cameron Teel, Luke Gentile, Nicholas Slinkman and Peter Olache finished third with a time of 2:00.58
 
Freshmen swimmers Mielke and Lewellyan swam well in their races earning between the two of them three third-place finishes and a second-place finish.
 
Mielke secured his two, third-place finishes in the 100-yard backstroke and freestyle, with final times of 1:01.26 and 51.31 respectively.
 
Lewellyan earned third-place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:22.55 and finished his success with a second-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:20.83.
 
The Cardinals continued to find themselves in the top three as the triangular continued. Slinkman secured a third-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:45.90; while teammates Blaser and Teel earned second (59:45) and third-place (1:07.17) respectively in the 100-yard butterfly.
 
Gentile also found some individual success in the 500-yard freestyle, acquiring third after shaving more than 15 seconds off his seed time, with a time of 5:43.06.
 
Solidifying a lead over Beloit College, the teammates Mielke, Gentile, Slinkman and Blaser earned second in the 200-yard freestyle relay with the time of 1:35.87.
 
Men's team scores
North Central College: 52.00        Ripon College: 169.00       
North Central College: 116.00        Beloit College: 83.00
 
Combined team scores:
North Central College: 150.00        Ripon College: 303.00       
North Central College: 216.00        Beloit College: 170.00
 
Despite splitting the meet 1-1, the men's and women's swimming team continues to progress, creating new personal best records each week. The North Central College men's and women's swimming and diving team will travel up to Chicago, Ill. to compete in the University of Chicago Phoenix Fall Classic on November 17. Meet start time is to be announced.