On January 16th, the Luther College Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving teams were both victorious in a dual meet against Coe College, each team’s first meet since last November. The men (1-1) won 176-115, while the women (2-0) won 159-113.
Luther secured first place in 16 events, including four events where both the men’s and women’s teams won. For the men, Kyle Anderson (‘21), Soren Gloege Torp (‘21) and Jack Meehan (‘23) all placed first in the 50-yard butterfly, freestyle, and breaststroke, respectively. For the women, Shakira Herrera (‘22) won the 50-yard butterfly and Linnea Lee-Brown (‘21) won the 50-yard freestyle and breaststroke. Additionally, the men’s team of Matt Benson (‘21), Gloege Torp, Anderson, and Isaac Christopherson (‘21) and the women’s team of Lee-Brown, Herrera, Margaret Petellin (‘24), and Britt Huss (‘23) each placed first in their respective 400-yard freestyle relays.
“It was really fun racing against another team and being competitive,” Herrera said. “I’m really happy with the times that we swam and can’t wait to see how we swim when we’re rested.”
The team of Petellin, Lee-Brown, Herrera, and Huss also placed first in the women’s 400-yard medley relay. Also, Petellin also won a pair of individual backstroke events, the 50-yard, and the 100-yard, while Herrera won the 100-yard butterfly. Meanwhile, on the men’s side, Gloege Torp and Benson placed first in the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle, respectively, while diver Rye Hawley (‘22) won the 1-meter dive and diver Landon Albro (‘21) won the 3-meter dive.
“Winning the meet was a highlight of the year because we haven’t beat [Coe] in a while,” Benson said. “We are looking great entering the last month of our season, and I’m excited to see how we can continue to improve.”
Both teams have one meet left — a dual meet against Loras on January 30th — before competing in the Liberal Arts Championships in February. Now that the season is wrapping up, the goal is to finish the year out strong.
“We didn’t even know if there was going to be a season,” Luther Swimming and Diving Assistant Coach Abby Specht said. “At this point, we just want to get [both teams] to our conference meet in February and let [the athletes] show off all the hard work they’ve been putting in.”
The next meet, which takes place at 1:00 p.m. on January 30th, will be live-streamed on the Luther Athletics website. The Liberal Arts Championships, which will take place February 18th through the 20th, will also be live-streamed and available on the Luther Athletics website.