DANVILLE, Ky. – The Blue Raider women's swimming team crowned two individual champions and scored a pair of relay victories on day one of the Mid-South Conference swimming and diving championships at Centre College.
After five events on Thursday evening, Lindsey Wilson sits in third place behind Cumberlands (Ky.) and Indiana Wesleyan.
Kirsten de Goede quickly made a name for herself in her first conference championship appearance. The junior dominated the 200-yard individual medley and added a leg in each of the Blue Raiders' two winning relays.
In her solo medley race, de Doede wasted no time getting ahead of the field as she used the butterfly leg to build a two-second cushion over second place. She coasted the rest of the way and touched the wall with an NAIA "A"-standard and school record time of 2:03.48.
De Goede becomes only the second Blue Raider in program history to win a conference championship in the 200-yard individual medley, joining Jessica Macdonald in 2018.
Not long after de Goede's win,
Maaike Broersma hit the pool to win her second straight conference gold in the 50-yard freestyle. Her top time of 23.43 met NAIA "A"-standards and set a new championship meet record. Her teammate
Natalia Gorska also earned All-conference honors in the 50-yard sprint as she placed third with a time of 24.02.
Lindsey Wilson's fourth individual All-conference finish of the evening came from
Nathalie Medina in the 500-yard freestyle where the freshman placed second – 5:04.81.
As for the relays, the Blue Raiders set championship records in both the 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley. The first quartet of
Hannah Woyscheszik, Broersma, Gorska, and de Goede logged a time of 1:34.92, while the 400-medley team of
Sara Motyl,
Natascha Evreinoff, Gorska and de Goede hit the wall at 3:50.64.
The second day of the conference championships begin at 9 a.m. CST on Friday, February 7 with a preliminary round of events, including the 100-yard butterfly, 400-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard medley relay, and 800-yard freestyle relay.
