On the week of Valentine’s, February 12th through the 15th, the Southwestern Pirate Swim and Dive teams competed at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) in San Antonio, Texas. The meet spanned the course of four long grueling days each including a prelim and finals session. The Pirates were ecstatic for this meet as it was their final championship competition of the year. The Men’s swim team ended the meet with a combined score of 859 points and the Women’s swim team finished the meet with a total of 789 points.
On Wednesday, the first day of competition, the meet began with the 200-yard medley relay. The women’s relay placed first in the 200-yard medley relay, for the third consecutive year, beating out Trinity’s relay by over three seconds! On the men’s relay, the swimmers secured second place behind Trinity’s team. Southwestern ended the day with a combined score of 196.
On Thursday, the second day of competition, the finals session began with the 200-yard freestyle relay. The men’s relay took first place, beating out Trinity by .01 of a second. On the women’s relay, Southwestern took second place behind Trinity. Later in the evening, Jesse Stovall and Emma Frey took first and second places in the 50-yard freestyle with times of 23.59 and 23.74 respectively. In the men’s 50-yard freestyle, Keith Gill and Drew Anderson took first and third places with times of 20.64 and 21.44 respectively. In the 200-yard individual medley, Rehgan Hartsell and Sam Anderson both took second place, in the women and men’s races, with times of 2:09.85 and 1:52.98 respectively.
On Friday, the third day of competition, the finals session began with the 400-yard individual medley relay. Both the men and women’s relays took second place with times of 3:27.91 and 3:57.43. In the men’s 400-yard individual medley, Matt Oevermann and Caden Garza took second and third places with times of 4:10.42 and 4:15.94 respectively. Later in the evening, Rehgan Hartsell took first place in the women’s 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05.31. Also, Jesse Stovall took third place in the women’s 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.45. In addition, Emma Frey took second place in the women’s backstroke with a time of 58.9.
On Saturday, the fourth and final day of competition, the finals session began with the 1650-yard freestyle events. Natalie Hicks scored second place, in the women’s 1650-yard freestyle, with a time of 18:19.59 and Matt Oevermann placed third, in the men’s 1650-yard freestyle, with a time of 16:34.78. After the mile, Alicia Peters placed third in the women’s 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:10.12. Jesse Stovall and Keith Gill both won the women and men’s 50-yard freestyle with times of 51.38 and 45.85 respectively. Later, Rehgan Hartsell and Alek Argueta won the women and men’s 200-yard breaststroke with times of 2:24.47 and 2:04.22 respectively. In the men’s 200-yard butterfly, Dylan Neumann placed third with a time of 1:55.38. Lastly, Kyla Gorman placed a scored total of 278.35 for the women’s diving team.
The dedicated Pirates ended their exhaustingly long season with a second place finish from both the Men’s and Women’s teams, a first in the Women’s swim history! With many podium finishes and new school records, the Pirates finished out their meet exhausted yet proud of their season. The Pirates have hung up their goggles, and swim caps, and are now enjoying their long overdue offseason away from the pool. Great job Bucs!