The Lakers Swimming and Diving concluded their seson last week March 4th-March 8th! The NJCAA National Swimming and Diving championship meet took place at Indian River State College in Fort Peirce, Florida. This is a 4 day long meet with Prelims sessions and finals sessions!
Starting the meet off strong on Wednesday, Freshman Emma Graff competed in the Womens 50 Breaststroke entering with a time of 33.47, dropping in prelims to a 31.95 and then finishing off in 5th place overall earning a spot on the podium with a 31.91. Graff also competed in the 50 free entering with a time of 26.68 and finishing 12th overall with a PB time of 26.15. Freshman Jochem Lemmens competed in the 200 IM entering with a time of 2:05.13, dropping in prelims to a 2:02.43 and then finishing overall with a 14th place finish with a Personal Best time of 2:01.89. Sophmore Grant Bumsted competed in the Mens 50 Breaststroke entering with a time of 29.70 and then ending it with a personal best time of 28.17. Sophmore Lucas Neuvonen completed his swims in the 50 Breast with a 32.34 and 50 Free 24.97. Freshman Roberto Suarez competed in the 1000 free with a time of 10:35.08.
Thursday continued with our Mens 200 Free relay consisting of Lemmens, Freshman Roberto Suarez, Bumsted and freshman Ethan Heideyer placing 6th overall earning a spot on the podium. Heideyer competed in the Mens 50 Backstroke earning an individual podium spot in 7th with a PB time of 24.25. He also competed in the Mens 100 Fly entering with a time of 50.76 and ending the finals session with a 50.85. Bumsted finished the 100 fly with a time of 54.15 and Neuvonen finished with a time of 1:02.79. Lemmens competed in the 400 IM entering with a time of 4:27.53 and finishing with a PB of 4:22.34. Bumsted competed in the Mens 100 Fly and ended it with a 54.15. Suarez swam the 200Free with a time of 1:53.67. The night concluded with Emma Graff placing 5th overall in Womens 1M springboard with a new school record score of 164.75. The 400 Medley relay finished up in 6th place on the podium consisting of Heideyer, Lemmens, Bumsed and Suarez with a time of 3:40.18.
Friday, Suarez and Lemmens bettled in the 500 Free. Suarez ending with a new season best time of 5:02.65 and Lemmens with a new PB of 4:59.22. Heideyer placed 7th overall in the Mens 100 Backstroke entering with a time of 52.86 and ending with a 51.88 but gaining a PB in the prelims session of 51.56. Graff competed in the Womens 100 Breaststroke placing 5th overall with a time of 1:11.42. Bumsted stayed strong for the 200 Fly ending up 10th overall with a best time of 2:06.80. The finals session ended with the Mens 200 Medley relay, the Lakers placing in 6th with a new SB time of 1:39.60.
Saturday, Bumsted and Neuvonen battled in the 50 fly, Neuvonen ending with a time of 26.99 and Bumsted with a SB of 24.78. Freshman Josey Saxton competed in the Womens 100 Free and ended with a time of 1:10. 95. Heideyer finshing 5th overall in the Mens 100 Free with a time of 46.01, a personal best time. Lemmens finished the 200 Backstroke with a Personal Best time of 2:01.48. Suarez competed in the 1650 Freestyle, earning an 8th pplace overall on the podium with a time of 17:53.21. The Laker 400 Free Relay ended the night and meet on a high note placing 6th overall, with another spot on the podium with a 3:18.10, a SB time!
The Lakers took home 7 individual medals and 4 relay medals! the Men finshing 6th overall as a team, the women finishing 9th as a team!
To our Laker Sophmores, Grant Bumsted and Lucas Neuvonen, thank you! We thank you for helping carry on the culture and being part of the Laker family!
As always, Go Lakers!