First Chance Meet Day 1 recap

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton College women's swimming & diving team competed in two locations on Saturday, with the divers co-hosting the Dodd Road Invitational while the swimmers took part in Day 2 of the University of Minnesota's First Chance Meet.
 
The racing portion of the day was split into two sessions, a morning slate that featured the 400-yard IM, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke, and 1650-yard freestyle while the evening schedule including the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, and 400-yard freestyle relay.
 
The First Chance Meet included some of the top Division III teams in the region plus two NCAA Division I programs. It also served as the last meet of the season for a portion of the roster, with a taper group that included: Lillian Berets (Sr./Boulder, Colo./Fairview), Lindsay Boettiger (Sr./Austin, Texas/Westlake), Anna Halladay (Sr./Burlington, Vt./Burlington), Kristin Hultgren (Sr./Centennial, Colo./Cherry Creek), Abby Marks (So./Orleans, Mass./Nauset Regional), Jivana Nagpal (So./Oakland, Calif./Bentley), and Alison Trackman (Fy./Bethesda, Md./BethesdaChevy Chase).
 
"What a fantastic two-day meet," said Carleton head coach Andy Clark. "I could not be more impressed with the team energy, efforts, and performances we had from both teams at this meet, and I am especially excited about the results produced by our tapered team members.  This group was on fire all weekend and posted a ton of season-best swims with many of those swims being lifetime bests. 
 
"Being the first to taper can often create a lot of nervousness, but their confidence was there, and they nailed it. It was so gratifying and rewarding to see them experience such great outcomes, and there's no question that their swims set the tone for the rest of the team this weekend.
 
"I want to give special recognition to our senior team members who ended their collegiate swimming careers this weekend.  They have been such a positive and impactful force for our program over the years with their enthusiasm, leadership, worth ethic and dedication."
 
Marks was one of the first Knights in the water on Saturday and dropped more than 13 seconds from her season-best time in the 400 IM.
 
Trackman and Berets posted season bests in the 200 free, with the former clocking a time of 2:10.21 and the latter touching the wall at 2:18.64, a more than 7.5-second improvement.
 
Boettinger posted a time of 1:06.92 in the 100 back, slicing more than 2.5 seconds from her top time this season. Halladay (1:09.12) cut nearly five seconds off her time in the event, while Hultgren (1:17.26) also registered a season-best.
 
Napgal dropped time in the 1650 free and touched the wall at 21:47.92.
 
The Knights were back in the water on Saturday evening for the final five events.
 
In the 200 back, Marks, Halladay, and Hultgren each dropped significant time en route to season bests of 2:22.12, 2:25.68, and 2:44.49, respectively.
 
Trackman, Berets, and Nagpal each notched season bests in the 100 free, covering the distance in 59.49, 1:02.81, and 1:03.45, respectively.
 
Sophie Baggett (Sr./La Crosse, Wis./Logan) joined with Trackman, Napgal, and Zoe Morton (Fy./Chicago, Ill./Univ. of Chicago Laboratory School) to take ninth in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:57.32. Julia Luljak (Sr./Baltimore, Md./Park School), Sammi Sheridan (Jr./Madison, Wis./Memorial), Halladay, and Berets placed 11th at 4:04.95.
 
Meanwhile at the Dodd Road Diving Invitational, Brenna Russell (Jr./Andover, Minn./Andover) placed second for the six-dive competition on the 3-meter board with a score of 231.25. She was fourth for the 11-dive program on the 1-meter board with a score of 413.20.
 
Anna Neiman-Golden (Sr./New York, N.Y./Saint Ann's School) was fifth on the 3-meter board with 166.35 points and third during the six-dive portion of the 1-meter competition at 183.50. Katya Sjaastad (So./St. Paul, Minn./St. Paul Academy) finished fourth on the 1-meter board at 179.20.
 
Carleton's non-tapered group turned in a handful of top-10 swims on Saturday at the U of M:
• Stephanie Baranov (Fy./Streamwood, Ill./Hoffman Estates) took fifth in the 400 IM with a season-best time of 4:55.75.
• Morton finished 10th in the 200 free with a season-best time of 2:02.20.
• Baranov and Luljak finished third and fifth, respectively, in the 1650 free with season-best marks of 19:05.20 and 19:13.78.
• Luljak placed fifth in the 200 breast with a time of 2:33.95.
• Baranov turned in a fifth-place showing in the 200-yard butterfly with her time of 2:20.54, an improvement of 10.5 seconds from earlier this season.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will host the Northfield Diving Invite on Tuesday, Feb. 7 before the team turns its full attention toward the MIAC Swimming & Diving Championships on Feb. 15-18.