Men's Swimming & Diving Wins CCIW Championship

PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology men's swimming and diving team won its first conference championship in school history with a historic performance at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championships from Feb. 12-14.

The Fightin' Engineers scored 942 points to earn the first men's swimming conference championship in program history. The effort also earned Rose-Hulman its first CCIW championship in any sport (the remaining varsity sports are in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference).

Rose-Hulman outdistanced perennially nationally ranked foes Carthage College (796) and Wheaton College (637) to win the championship. Historically significant times were achieved in both the individual and relay events for men and women throughout the three-day event.

Rose-Hulman finally tally between the men's and women's squads included 22 all-conference performances, 14 school records, seven conference championship performances, and three CCIW all-time records. The women's team added a top-five team finish at the championships.

"This is something we weren't even sure was possible until a couple years ago. The first conference championship in the 25-year history of our program is definitely very exciting," said head coach Keith Crawford.

Junior Orion Martin had perhaps the strongest week in the 69-year history of the CCIW. Martin won two individual events and was part of two relay championships, setting all-time CCIW record times in three performances. His effort also included five school records for the week. Martin was named the CCIW Championships Male Swimmer of the Meet for his overall efforts on the weekend.

Martin won the 100-butterfly, highlighted by the fastest NCAA Division III time in the event this season. His preliminary mark of 47.92 seconds set a CCIW record, a Rose-Hulman record and entered him as the top seed in an event he later won.

Martin also set CCIW and Rose-Hulman records with a winning performance in the 100-freestyle. His mark of 45.32 seconds also hit the NCAA Division III provisional national qualification standard, and marked his second school record in the event on the day.

Rose-Hulman also won the 800-freestyle relay with another history making performance. The team of Martin, Patrick King, Paul Hintz and Ben Stone smashed the previous school record with a time of 6:51.35 to record the fastest time in the 69-year history of the CCIW. Martin also added his fifth school record of the week 200-freestyle time of 1:40.55 as the first leg of the relay.

With the meet's outcome already determined, Rose-Hulman added another relay championship with an NCAA provisional qualification time in the 400-freestyle relay. The team of Martin, Hintz, Stone and Cam Gill recorded a winning time of 3:04.52.

King added Rose-Hulman's fifth conference championship of the weekend with an NCAA provisional national qualification time of 1:51.77 in the 200-butterfly, marking the fourth consecutive year that the Fightin' Engineers swept both the men's 100- and 200-butterfly titles at the CCIW Championships.

Junior Sam Gould provided a boost to the team score by sweeping the CCIW Diving Championships last weekend at Illinois Wesleyan University. Gould recorded 431.70 points to win the three-meter championship and tallied 401.85 points to earn top honors in one-meter.

On the women's side, sophomore Ellie Hong recorded two runner-up performances that were both school records and NCAA provisional qualifying times to pace the Fightin' Engineers. She completed the 100-backstroke in 56.44 seconds and came home second in the 200-backstroke with a mark of 2:00.80 in hopes of returning to the NCAA Division III National Championships in March.

The women's squad also shattered new school records in four relay events at the 2015 CCIW Championships. The team of Hong, sophomore Savannah Rice, senior Celeste Kline and senior Ashley Schumacher set new school records in the 200-freestyle relay (1:39.53), the 200-medley relay (1:50.76), the 400-freestyle relay (3:39.35) and the 400-medley relay (4:03.93). Each time earned the Fightin' Engineers a top-five finish in the respective event.

Three more school records fell at the 2015 CCIW Championships. Junior Matthew King established a new school record and earned all-conference with a third-place finish in the 1,650-freestyle. His mark of 16:00.81 snapped his own school record by almost two seconds and also hit the NCAA Division III provisional qualification standard.

Freshman Bethany Lefeber added the final two school records of the week with her performance in the 100-butterfly. Her preliminary mark of 1:01.27 qualified the freshman for the finals, then she topped the mark with an eighth-place time of 1:00.26 on Friday night.

Sophomore Matt Schulstad led the runner-up performers with second-place finishes and NCAA Division III provisional national qualification times in the 100-butterfly (49.98 seconds) and the 200-butterfly (1:52.23).

Other runner-up finishers included Gill in the 100-backstroke (51.68 seconds); Hintz in the 200-freestyle (1:42.64); Martin in the 50-freestyle (20.94 seconds); and junior Josh Maurer in three-meter diving (380.25 points).

Third-place finishers also receive all-conference accolades from the CCIW, and the Fightin' Engineers combined for seven third-place efforts. Matthew King paced the third-place finishes with efforts in the 500-freestyle (4:40.17) and the 1,650-freestyle (16:00.81). Patrick King helped complete a Rose-Hulman 1-2-3 sweep in the 100-butterfly with a time of 50.27 seconds.

Other third-place finishers included sophomore Pierce Bartine in the 200-individual medley (1:55.45), junior women's three-meter diver Regen Foote (323.70 points); Gill in the 200-backstroke (1:54.07); and sophomore Alexander Yaung in the 200-breaststroke (2:08.55).

Rose-Hulman also performed well in the remaining three men's relay events to bolster the team score. The 400-medley relay team (Kirk Dickson, Bartine, Martin and Gill) came home second in a time of 3:26.52, then the same four swimmers added a second-place finish in the 200-medley relay with a mark of 1:33.61.

The 200-freestyle relay squad of Bartine, Hintz, Stone and Gill added a third-place finish in 1:25.18.

The men's effort also included four fourth-place finishes and five fifth-place efforts. Fourth-place finishers included freshman Avery Krovetz in the 1,650-freestyle (16:17.66); Schulstad in the 200-individual medley (1:56.74), Stone in the 400-individual medley (4:10.41) and sophomore Nate Weber in the 100-backstroke (53.10).

The fifth-place finishers included Bartine in the 100-breaststroke (59.10), Patrick King in the 200-freestyle (1:44.65), Maurer in one-meter diving (348.55 points) Stone in the 200-individual medley (1:56.90); and Yaung in the 400-individual medley (4:11.50)

On the women's side, other women's finalists included Hong with a fourth place in the 50-freestyle (24.62 seconds); Foote with a fourth-place in one-meter diving (340.35 points); Kline with a sixth place in the 200-backstroke (2:11.50); and Rice with a sixth-place effort in the 100-breaststroke (1:08.92).

Rose-Hulman will await the final individual event national rankings to determine which swimmers will compete in the NCAA Division III National Championships from March 18-21 at Shenandoah, Texas. Gould and Foote will represent Rose-Hulman at the NCAA Division III Diving Regional at the University of Chicago on Feb. 27-28 in hopes of joining their teammates at the National Meet.

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