Final Results (PDF)
INDIANAPOLIS – The Findlay women were officially crowned Great Midwest/Mountain East Swimming & Diving team champions following the conclusion of the four-day meet on Saturday in the C.T. Branin Natatorium.
The Oilers held a wire-to-wire lead over the rest of the field, consisting of a combined 11 institutions from the two leagues to capture the coveted trophy for the second year in a row.
Findlay won 10 total events, including three of the four relay offerings, and contributed to five new conference championship meet records.
Individual award winners were voted upon by the coaches as four different standouts were officially recognized at the end of the meet.
For the league, it was a promising step taken forward as Hillsdale and Malone each won multiple events. More balance across the awards podium made for an exciting 2019 meet as student-athletes battled for all-conference honors.
Junior Hanna Cederholm and senior Katy Kouvaris were two of the ringleaders for UF’s overwhelming point total with 1,935.5 amassed as a team. Cederholm was a three-time meet champ, including defending her title in the 200 IM and winning the 200 breaststroke.
Cederholm has won a grand total of eight events in the first two G-MAC/MEC Championships.
Kouvaris received plenty of swimmer of the meet consideration with two new conference championship meet records in 100 butterfly and 200 butterfly. She also contributed to Oilers’ victories in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. Kouvaris and UF’s 200 medley relay unit set a new meet record with a time of 1:43.25.
Sydney Zimdars successfully repeated as the 1,650 champion and freshman Christina McFarland was named the G-MAC/MEC Women’s Freshman of the Meet after being a part of three winning races, including a new meet record in the 100 backstroke. Senior Amanda Stiegal also set a new conference meet record in the 50 free.
Hillsdale also featured two of the meet’s top scorers with sophomore Katherine Heeres winning the 200 backstroke and senior NCAA qualifier Anika Ellingson carving out a signature win in the 100 breaststroke.
Both Chargers student-athletes helped Hillsdale win the 400 medley relay and as the team runner-up, G-MAC/MEC Women’s Coach of the Year honors went to Kurt Kirner.
Malone’s Kaila Butterworth and Denise Quentin each won a pair of events. Quentin, just a sophomore, was impressive as she finished third among all swimmers for point totals accumulated.
Tiffin’s Diamond Boyer was also named the G-MAC/MEC Women’s Diver of the Meet after winning both 1 meter and 3-meter heights.
Fairmont State’s Courtney Deem led all competitors with 128 points combined as she won the 1,000 free, 200 free and 500 free. She was named G-MAC/MEC Women’s Swimmer of the Meet for the second consecutive year.
All-conference honors from both leagues will be officially announced in the near future.