Wheaton Swimmers Sweep CCIW Championships

The effect of the off-season workouts, long practices and taper finally culminated Saturday, Feb. 16, as the Wheaton swimming teams captured their first CCIW championship sweep since 2007. The Wheaton women continued their reign for the 16th straight season. The Wheaton men denied the Red Men of Carthage their sixth consecutive win by scoring 802 points.

Head Coach Jon Lederhouse said, “It was a real treat for both teams to win at home and share the coed success.”

Senior swimmer Laura Westfall wrote in an email, “Winning Conference is such a great accomplishment. It is fun saying that you were a part of the Conference Champion team all four years. This … year was so special because we were able to share that title with the (men’s) team. I think I can speak for most of the girls in saying we wanted that title for the boys as much as for ourselves.”

Both swim teams held leads at the end of Day 1 and Day 2. However, the lead at the end of Day 2 seemed to be much bigger than it really was.

Lederhouse wrote in an email, “At the conclusion of Day 2 in the championships, both squads appeared to have comfortable leads, only to find the team title race dramatically changed when a clerical error I made in submitting relay names resulted in disqualifications and a loss of nearly 50 points for each squad heading into Saturday’s sessions.”

The Wheaton women were not fazed as they went on to post six of the top finishers in the mile finals. For Westfall, the competition capped off an incredible four-year journey at Wheaton. Westfall wrote, “Swimming at Wheaton has been such a blessing to me. The team is full of so much love and encouragement.”

She added that to finish like they did at home could not have been scripted better, and “to be able to swim my final event in the lane I practice in is extremely special.”

The Wheaton men also responded in front of a home crowd that Lederhouse described as “crazy loud.”

The men exchanged the lead several times with the defending champs from Carthage. That was when the CCIW men’s Championship MVP, junior Wills Francis, started a chain of events that led Wheaton to the title by winning the 100 free. Freshman Jonathan Lait followed with a victory in the 200 breaststroke.

Coach Lederhouse commented on the impact the victory had for his seniors: “For the seniors this was a key milestone to their four-year career which they have been striving for and how they came through on Saturday night to make it happen.”

He specifically applauded the efforts of seniors Carl Sveen and David Brown. Sveen had a “surprise second” in the 200 Backstroke, and Brown followed suit with a two-position improvement.

“Special credit must be given to the quartet of Thunder men’s divers, Scott Gallagher, Teddy Kelley, Chris Laugier and Josh Roden, who provided the men with a 97-point cushion to start the swimming portion of the championships,” Lederhouse wrote.

The Wheaton teams tallied the highest number of victories, Varsity Record and NCAA national championships’ qualifying times since 2005. Freshman Kirsty Nitz, the women’s championship MVP, led the way with a 22.66 time in the 50 Free that not only surpassed every Wheaton and CCIW record but was the best NCAA Division III time in history. Nitz was just two-tenths off a national record in the 100 Fly as she won with a time of 53.06. She also fell one second short of a national record in the 100 Back with a first place time of 54.76.

Francis set a varsity and CCIW record by winning the 100 Back in 50.18. He also won the 50 Free and 100 Free with times that earned NCAA national championship consideration and placed in the top three all-time in Wheaton history.

Other notable individual performances were from freshman Katherine Deysher who won the 200 and 400 IM and was runner-up in the 200 Fly. All three of those events earned Deysher NCAA national championship consideration and top three times in Wheaton history. Her 200 IM was also a new CCIW meet record.

Junior Jamie Walitsch won the 200 Back and earned runner-up status in the 100 Back and 400 IM, all with times that earned her NCAA national championship consideration.

Freshmen Kathryn Cialkowski and Sarah Coley won the 200 and 100 Free Races respectively, with Cialkowski’s 200 Free time up for NCAA national championship consideration.

Jonathan Lait took first in the 200 Breaststroke and earned runner-up status in the 400 IM with an NCAA national championship time.

Additional NCAA national championship consideration times were earned by junior Chelsey Long, runner up in the 200 Breaststroke, and freshman Nick Pulgine, who placed third in the 400 IM.

Relay swims were big for the Thunder as the men’s 200 Medley Relay of Francis, Dave Brown, sophomore Jack Raymond and junior Timothy Walker set a new varsity record and NCAA consideration time of 1:32.22. The men’s 200 Free Relay — of Francis, Brown, Walker and junior Hayes Wilkerson — placed first, and that same relay placed second in the 400 Free Relay with NCAA national championship consideration.

The women set varsity records in three of their four winning relays and earned NCAA cuts in all four of them. Both the 200 Free Relay — Nitz, junior Marcey Wennlund, sophomore Kelly Ormond and junior Ali Offerdahl — and the 200 Medley Relay — junior Emma Rogers, freshman Sarah Hunt, Nitz and Ormond — broke the old records by over a second, while the 400 Free Relay of Nitz, Ormond, Cialkowski and Coley broke the old record by two seconds. The winning 400 Medley Relay of Walitsch, Long, Deysher and Nitz recorded the third best time in team history.

Capturing both CCIW titles caps off one of the best seasons in recent history for the Thunder swim team.

Westfall concluded the season saying, “It (is) so hard to know my final season is over. This team has been more than I ever expected it to be. ...It is truly inspiring.”