February 15, 2004

Tigers Sweep 2004 SCAC Championships

Season Recap:

......Upon returning to campus to begin the 2003-2004 academic year, Trinity’s men and women each had a clear goal in mind…bring the 2004 SCAC team titles back to the skyline campus in San Antonio.  Strong and enthusiastic first-year classes appeared poised to give T.U.’s senior class the energy and the support required to knock DePauw off the conference winner’s platform. 

            The fall season was relatively successful, highlighted by double wins over McMurry University at a November 20 double-dual meet at the Carroll ISD Natatorium in Southlake, Texas.  During the winter recess, Trinity’s swimmers and divers traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to train at Westminster Academy and the International Swimming Hall-of-Fame.  January witnessed successful meets with Colorado College and Southwestern University, well as a pair of Trinity wins at the teams traditional end-of-season Tiger Invitational.  That set the stage for the 2004 SCAC Championships, which were held at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, on February 12, 13 and 14.

            Trinity’s men opened the meet with an exciting win in the 200 Freestyle Relay, which then seemed to jump start the team into a fast series of successful swims.  Ryan Van Der Kar defended his conference 500 freestyle title.  Trinity went 2-3-4 in the 50 Freestyle, and first-year Dan Petersen captured the 200 IM with an NCAA “B” cut of 1:54.67.  To top off the opening night’s finals, the Trinity combo of Zach Coburn, VDK, Petersen, and Andrew Callahan won the 400 Medley Relay with a school record time of 3:27.55.  The men went into day 2 of the SCAC’s with a 38 point lead over DePauw, and then proceeded to slip steadily away from their northern rivals during Friday’s finals.  VDK (Van Der Kar) won the 400 IM (4:06.62), for the 4th consecutive year, first-year Evan O’Dea shocked Sewanee’s defending 200 Freestyle champion Will Oakes with a quick 1:43.26; Petersen captured the 100 Breaststroke with yet another school record (58.66), and Coburn captured the 200 Backstroke along with qualifying for the NCAA National Championships.  Trinity finished the night with a “no contest” win in the 800 Freestyle Relay, leaving the pool with a 62 point lead.  Saturday was more of the same, only more.  First-year Blair Boudousquie and senior Tait Ecklund went 1 & 3 in the 1650 Freestyle.  T.U. put 4 men in the finals of the 200 backstroke, Andrew Callahan won his first ever SCAC individual title with an upset victory in the 100 freestyle (46.75), VDK took the 200 butterfly (1:53.86) for the 4th year in a row, and T.U. closed the meet with a 3:08.83 win in the 400 Freestyle Relay.  The final score for the men read Trinity 861, DePauw 773 and Rose-Hulman 601.

            The women’s meet was almost all Trinity, and it was all about the depth that Ryan identified at the season’s beginning.  In the opening night, Trinity fell to DePauw in the 200 Freestyle Relay, and did not win an event until the end of the evening (a 4:02.55 finish in the 400 Medley Relay). What the Tigers did succeed in accomplishing was impressive: 6 finalists in the 500 Freestyle, 5 finalists in the 200 I.M., and 3 finalists in the 50 Freestyle.  Leading the field with 320 points (Sewanee had 251 and DePauw had 196), the Lady Tigers never looked back.  On Friday night, T.U. won the 200 medley relay to get things started.  Sophomore Catherine Jelf then won the 400 IM (4:42.75),  first-year Lauren Clements captured the 100 butterfly with a school record 59.08, senior Christy Anderson earned her first-ever SCAC title in the 100 Breaststroke (1:10.46), and senior Stephanie Walla won the 100 Backstroke (59.91).  Trinity put 14 swimmers into the championships final heat of 4 races.  While the Tigers had not a single entry in the 200 Freestyle, they amazed their fans, their coaches, and themselves by upsetting Sewanee in the 800 Freestyle Relay with a time of 8:02.75 (thanks in large part to a terrific anchor leg finish by sophomore Carrie Fitzgerald).  Trinity’s lead was near insurmountable after the meets second night, but the best was yet to come.  On Saturday, the T.U. women went 2-3-4-7-9 in the 1650 Freestyle, and then reeled off wins in the 200 backstroke (Walla at 2:09.50)), the 100 Freestyle (Isenberg at 53.50), the 200 Breaststroke (Anderson at 2:31.60)), and the 200 Butterfly (Clements at 2:13.20).  With 16 swimmers placing in the “Big-Final” of 5 events, Trinity completely dominated the SCAC scoreboard.  The Tigers finished the meet with a school record 3:37.99 in the 400 Freestyle Relay, which was at that point almost anticlimactic.  When all points were tallied, Trinity was the overwhelming winner…T.U.’s 1030 to Sewanee’s 736.  It was, by far, the most points ever scored by any team, men or women, at the SCAC Championships.

            In the end, Trinity’s coaching staff (John Ryan, Stan Randall, Ad’m Dusenbury, and our massage therapist Lois Pearson) was delighted by the spirit and effort that their teams exhibited throughout the championship meet.  With 15 swimmers and divers graduating (6 men and 9 women), Trinity faces a big challenge when it comes to defending its titles in 2005.  However, the Tigers had the SCAC’s best men’s and women’s first-year classes on the 2004 title team.  That should count for something in the year to come, but only time will tell.