Women's Swimming Tops Standings at Panther Invite, Men Place Second

The Millikin men's and women's swim teams traveled to Elsah, Ill. on Saturday, January 22 for the Principia College Panther Invite. The women's team topped the standings and the men placed second as a team.

The women's team scored 670 total points to place first. Hendrix College came in second with a team score of 509, followed by Illinois College in third, Knox College in fourth, and Principia College in fifth.

On the men's side, Hendrix College placed first with a team score of 667. The Big Blue were second with 331 total points, followed by Illinois College in third, Knox College in fourth, and Principia College in fifth.

The Big Blue once again were off to a strong start with the women's 200 yard medley relay team of Kelli Sangston, Laura Atkinson, Kaitlyn Mayer, and Amanda Fathman placing first. The team of Katie Yelaska, Kendall Rossignol, Hope Roderick, and Shay Buchanan placed third.

For the men, the team of Jason Burrow, Omar Ayad, Mark Miller, and Joe Smiley placed third in the 200 yard medley relay.

Millikin's Roderick picked up an event win, taking the top slot in the women's 500 yard freestyle, and Liv Marquardt finished in second place. The Big Blue nabbed another event win when Aly Barnes finished first in the 200 yard freestyle, followed by Yelaska, Sarahi Villafana, and Buchanan in second, third, and fourth. Justin Maniago was the top finisher on the men's side in third place, followed by Smiley in fourth.

The Big Blue claimed another event win in Brigid Duesterhaus's first event of the day. Duesterhaus was the victor in the 100 yard backstroke in a time of 1:01.77. Sangston placed fourth and Erin Powell scored her first points of the day for MU finishing in eighth. For the men, it was Dawsen Loafman in second place, and Kade Zanger put up points for MU in seventh.

In another strong race for the Big Blue, Atkinson finished first in the 100 yard breaststroke, followed by Kendall Rossignol in second and Grace Meacham in fourth. On the men's side, Ayad finished fifth and Burrow finished sixth.

Mayer tallied an event win in the 200 yard butterfly in a time of 2:28.46, and Madeleine Erdmann finished fourth to tally points for the Big Blue.

Duesterhaus notched her second event win of the day in the 50 yard freesyle. Sangston placed fourth, and Meacham was part of a three-way-tie for sixth. In the men's race, Loafman swam the top time for MU to place fourth.

Mayer's second win of the day came in the 100 yard freestyle. Marquardt placed second and Yelaska came in fourth to round out the scoring swimmers for the Big Blue, though Atkinson and Villafana came in fifth and sixth. On the men's side, Smiley placed eighth.

Barnes was the top Millikin finisher in the 200 yard backstroke in third place, followed by Emma Cox in sixth and Erin Powell in seventh. On the men's side, Maniago placed third, and Mark Miller came in sixth.

Atkinson's performance in the 200 yard breaststroke earned her the top slot, and Meacham came in third. For the men, Noyes placed fourth and Burrow came in fifth.

Roderick's second individual event win of the day was in the 1650 yard freestyle. Yelaska claimed the second place slot and Buchanan placed fourth.

Millikin provided the top four times in the women's 100 yard butterfly with Marquardt in first, Barnes in second, Duesterhaus in third, and Mayer in fourth. For the men, Noyes had the top time for the Big Blue to place fourth, Loafman placed sixth, and Smiley came in eighth.

Rossignol picked up an event win in the 400 yard IM with her time of 5:15.31. On the men's side, Ayad tallied the top time for Millikin to place fifth.

The Millikin women's team finished out the day with a relay win in the 400 yard freesyle relay swam by the team of Meacham, Barnes, Marquardt, and Duesterhaus in a time of 3:54.77. The team of Sangston, Villafana, Powell, and Saenz placed second. On the men's side, the team of Loafman, Maniago, Noyes, and Miller took the second place slot.

The Big Blue will return to the pool for their Senior Day Meet against North Central College and Lincoln College at the Decatur Family YMCA on Saturday, January 29 at 1:00 PM.

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Players Mentioned

Brigid Duesterhaus: Sophomore

Madeleine Erdmann: Sophomore

Liv Marquardt: Sophomore

Hope Roderick: Sophomore

Laura Atkinson: Freshman

Kaitlyn Mayer: Freshman

Kelli Sangston: Freshman

Katie Yelaska: Freshman

Omar Ayad: Junior

Kade Zanger: Junior

Jason Burrow: Freshman

Dawsen Loafman: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Brigid Duesterhaus
: Sophomore

Madeleine Erdmann
: Sophomore

Liv Marquardt
: Sophomore

Hope Roderick
: Sophomore

Laura Atkinson
: Freshman

Kaitlyn Mayer
: Freshman

Kelli Sangston
: Freshman

Katie Yelaska
: Freshman

Omar Ayad
: Junior

Kade Zanger
: Junior

Jason Burrow
: Freshman

Dawsen Loafman
: Freshman