Kirksville, Mo. — In their first double dual meet of the season on Saturday, the Lindenwood – Belleville men’s and women’s swimming team faced off against stiff competition from the Truman State University Bulldogs in Kirksville, Missouri. The Bulldogs, being an NCAA Division II program, have a long history of success from their women’s team having captured seven national championships since 2001. The Lynx also faced Quincy University women’s swimming team, a first year NCAA Division II team from Quincy, Illinois.
FIRST STROKES
•The Lynx started the meet off strong with a fourth place finish from Dimitra Kapoglou, Carly Breitbarth, Maddie Powell, and Simone de Rijcke in the women’s 400 medley relay which was a school record of 4:19.78.
•The men’s 400 medley relay placed second behind efforts from Daniel Buijs, Timo Billmann, Amal Janabayev, and Bart Sommeling in 3:35.21.
•Freshmen Simone de Rickje continued to put up solid performances and led the way for the Lynx women by taking third in the 200 freestyle in a school record of 1:59.24 as well as taking the victory in the 500 freestyle stopping the clock at 5:23.37.
•Bart Sommeling, also a freshman, put up the Lynx top performance in the 200 freestyle placing second with a time of 1:45.47.
•In the women’s 100 breaststroke, Carly Breitbarth, a returning national qualifier, placed second with a time of 1:13.37, her fastest time of this season. She also Finished first in the 200 breast with a 2:38.18.
•Timo Billmann, a freshman from Germany, led the Lynx men in the 100 breast taking second in 1:01.82.
•The Lynx men made a huge push in the meet by placing 1-2 in the 200 butterfly with swims from Sebastian Wegner and Daniel Buijs in 1:56.38 and 1:56.87 respectively qualifying them for this year’s national championships.
•McKenna Rafferty and Vasiliki Falaina placed third and fourth in the women’s 100 free to put up some valuable points for the team finishing with 56.15 and 57.11.
•Returning All-American, Lucas Dengler-Harles tied for first in the men’s 100 free with a time of 47.97.
•Lynx backstrokers performed well for the team by placing second and third on the women’s side with swims from Dimitra Kapoglou and Eleni Robinson. In the men’s race Daniel Buijs took the win, followed by teammates Sebastian Wegner and Sebastiam Bohm in the third and fourth positions.
•Lindenwood distance swimmers kept the meet close on the men’s side by placing first through fourth from swims by Sommeling, Dengler-Harles, Theodor Hansson, and Josha va den Elzen.
•Falaina and Powell completed a 1-2 finish in the women’s 100 butterfly to keep the women in the hunt going into the final events of the meet.
•Once again, the Lynx flexed their muscles in the men’s 100 butterfly with a first through fifth sweep by Billmann, Janabayev, David Rakic, Thomas Berthe, and Juilian Miege.
•In the final individual event of the afternoon, Bohm, Hansson, Jesse Blackwell, and Anthony Dack gave the Lynx a final push going into the last relay with another first through fourth sweep.
•In the women’s final event, the 400 free relay, Rafferty, Breitbarth, Falaina, and de Rijcke finished in third place with a time of 3:47.89.
•The men’s 400 free relay was a thriller as the Lynx kept it close against the Bulldogs from start to finish from opening legs by Buijs, Billmann, and Dengler-Harles. Sommeling swam the anchor leg and was able to take the win with a time of 3:11.51, beating the Bulldog relay by a margin of .03 seconds.
AT THE TOUCH
On the men’s side of the meet, the Bulldogs finish on top with a score of 132 to the Lynx 129, making for a very close competition that came down to the last swims of the meet. The Lynx Women were able to take the victory in the dual with Quincy University 145 to 94. The Lady Lynx put up very strong performances against an experienced Truman State Women’s Team that took the meet with a score of 142 to 89.
A LOOK AHEAD
The Lindenwood – Belleville swimmers return to competition at St. Louis University on November 11th at 1:00 pm against the St. Louis Billikens, Maryville Saints, and University of Missouri – St. Louis Tritons.
Swimming news courtesy of Lindenwood Belleville Swimming & Diving.