OMAHA, NEB. – The University of Sioux Falls Women's Swimming Team continued an impressive opening to the 2019-20 season by winning eight of 12 swimming events at the Midwest Shootout which was hosted by the University of Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday (Oct. 12).
The Cougars have three wins individually from sophomore
Elizabeth Spaans, reigning NSIC Swimmer of the Week
Ella Johnson, a sophomore, and freshman
Ursula Demarquet among the standout efforts.
"We had a solid meet with performances of substance across the board," said USF Head Coach
Chris Hamstra, whose team takes a week off of competition before hosted a quad dual meet (Augustana, MSU Moorhead and Minnesota State. "I was pleased with their efforts today and this fall," he said.
Spaans won the 200 IM in 2:11.81 and was part of two winning relays. She swam on the winning 200 medley relay that finished in 1:49.95. Johnson,
Giulia Marcon and
Chantal Kasch also swam on the relay. USF also took third (
Jenna Krahn,
Abigail Ford,
Valerie Childs and
Leah Eagleton) and fifth (
Julia Zanto,
Sydnie Saddoris,
Makenzy Kennedy and
Tori Bailey) in the relay.
Spaans, Johnson, Krahn and Demarquet was part of the victorious 400 free relay in 3:34.85. The Cougars also took fourth in the race in 3:48.54 with a team of Ford, Kennedy,
Nina Groene and Kasch.
Johnson also captured the 500 free with a clocking of 5:13.17. Across nearly every event, USF had multiple place winners. And in the 500 free, Ford was third in 5:15.33 while Spaans was fifth in 5:21.83.
Demarquet picked up and individual win in the 100 fly in 58.18 and was joined in the top four by Childs, second, 59.66 and Kennedy, fourth, 1:00.06.
USF also picked up a win the 50 free as Krahn clocked a 24.62 to earn the win. She was joined in the top four by Johnson in third at 25.44 and senior
Kyjana Webber, fourth, 25.59.
Kasch captured the 100 breast in 1:05.59 and was joined by Ford in the top four at fourth at 1:09.77.
USF also had a third relay win in the 200 free as they clocked 1:40.20 to earn the win. Demarquet, Childs, Eagleton and Marcon were part of that relay. USF was fourth in the same relay with a clocking of 1:44.61 with a team of
Evelyn VanDeMark,
Gigi Bario, Saddoris and Bailey.
Marcon had another solid meet for USF by taking second in the 200 free in 1:57.63 and just .47 out of first. She was third in the 100 free in 55.18. And, USF also had a solid performance in the 100 backstroke as Krahn was third in 1:01.34 with Bario, fourth, 1:01.34 and Zanto, fifth, 1:02.6.
