Women's Swimming 2/13/2016 9:00:00 PM Tyler Madsen, Athletics Communications

CHAMPIONS! Women's Swimming Captures First GLVC Title

Truman Results
GLVC Championships Website
Previous Recaps: WED || THU || FRI

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. - - Behind a dominating performance on the final day of competition at the 2016 Great Lakes Valley Conference championships, the Truman State University women's swimming team captured its first GLVC title and 19^th all-time conference crown.

In addition to the conference championship, both programs earned individual laurels, as Will Shanel and Evyn Spencer were each named the Great Lakes Valley Conference's Swimmer of the Year on their respective sides, while Emma Barnett captured the league's women's Freshman of the Year award. Head coach Ed Pretre was voted by his peers as the conference's women's swimming Coach of the Year, picking up his first GLVC award as well.

The Bulldogs, who entered the day trailing two-time defending GLVC champion Drury by 52.5 points, raced past the Panthers on the final day of the four-day meet, accumulating 946.5 total points to DU's 910. Truman made up big chunks of ground in three of the four individual events on the day, finishing second, third, fourth, and fifth in the 100 free; first, third, fourth, and fifth in the 200 back; and second, third, fifth, eighth, 10^th, and 13^th in the 1650 free. Those totals helped give Truman a 32 point lead entering the final event of the championships, the 400 free relay.

From there, Truman added the cherry on top of its first GLVC title by smashing the previous conference record with a first-place finish of 3:25.12, besting DU by 0.31 seconds.

"There is a lot of emotion wrapped up with this one," Pretre said in a post-meet interview with Jeff Smith of the GLVC Sports Network. "I don't think I've ever seen such a team effort, and it all starts with the leadership of our captains."

Meanwhile, the Truman men brought home a strong fifth-place finish, as Neil Girmus collected a new school record in the 200 breast with a time of 2:01.11, finishing fifth-place and earning an NCAA B-cut. Also picking up a B-cut on the men's side were JT Thayer, whose time of 16:05.42 in the 1650 free earned a seventh-place finish, and Sam Heveroh, who finished 11^th in the 100 free with a time of 45.89.

However, the night belonged to the Truman ladies, who kicked off the finals by scoring a combined 69 points in the 1650 free, as six 'Dogs united to chip into the Drury lead carried over from night three. Shannon Dague (17:11.51), Jasmine Roghair (17:17.57), and Meghan Senne (17:31.01) each swam B-cut times as the trio finished second, third, and fifth, respectively.

The team then moved to the 100 free, where, after a strong set of prelims earlier in the day, the Bulldogs improved even more, bringing home second (Nikki Sisson; 50.62), third (Spencer; 51.43), fourth (Alison Strickler; 52.04), and fifth (Jamie Fitzpatrick; 52.32) places. Each swimmer earned a new B-cut, with the four places totaling 63 more points towards the team score.

The 200 back provided the next set of big scoring, as the Bulldogs got a first-place swim from Hannah Nicks – who led the prelim heats as well before touching first in the final with a B-cut mark of 2:01.49. Grace Fodor (2:02.87; B-cut) took third, while Barnett (2:03.40; B-cut) and Taylor Voelker (2:05.29) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Laney Klar finished second in the B-final, bringing home seven more points with a 10^th-place time of 2:06.95.

Following the 200 breast which saw Ally Neumann's team-top mark of 2:22.30 grab 13 points in sixth-place, the Bulldogs carried a 32 point lead into the 400 free relay – the final event of the championships. After the quartet of Barnett, Libby Opfer, Kortney Betz, and Nicks took second in the B-final with a time of 3:31.29, all the top squad needed to do was not pick up a disqualification, and the team title was coming to Kirksville. Not only did the Bulldog women not DQ, but they crushed the final event – toppling two-time defending GLVC champion Drury and capturing a new GLVC standard with a time of 3:25.12. Spencer, Fitzpatrick, Strickler, and Sisson linked to put the Bulldogs atop the podium for the first time as GLVC members.

From here, the Bulldogs head back to the pool for a week of practice before awaiting selections to the NCAA Div. II Swimming & Diving Championships, to be held in Indianapolis, Ind., from March 9-12. Selections will be announced via a release at NCAA.com by 5 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday, Feb. 24. The Bulldogs are guaranteed at least two swimmers for individual events, as Shanel earned an NCAA A-cut with his 3:48.56 time in the men's 400 IM on Thursday, while Spencer clocked a time of 2:00.95 in the women's 200 IM on Wednesday.

Stay tuned to http://www.trumanbulldogs.com throughout the upcoming days for photos, videos, and more from the team's conference championship trip to Crawfordsville.

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Players Mentioned

Kortney Betz: Free/Fly/IM; Sophomore

Jamie Fitzpatrick: Free/Fly/Back; Sophomore

Grace Fodor: Free/Back/Fly; Sophomore

Ally Neumann: Breast/Fly/IM; Junior

Hannah Nicks: Free/Back/IM; Junior

Libby Opfer: Free/Fly; Sophomore

Jasmine Roghair: Free; Sophomore

Meghan Senne: Free; Senior

Nikki Sisson: Free; Sophomore

Evyn Spencer: Free/Back/Fly/IM; Junior

Players Mentioned

Kortney Betz
: Sophomore
: Free/Fly/IM

Jamie Fitzpatrick
: Sophomore
: Free/Fly/Back

Grace Fodor
: Sophomore
: Free/Back/Fly

Ally Neumann
: Junior
: Breast/Fly/IM

Hannah Nicks
: Junior
: Free/Back/IM

Libby Opfer
: Sophomore
: Free/Fly

Jasmine Roghair
: Sophomore
: Free

Meghan Senne
: Senior
: Free

Nikki Sisson
: Sophomore
: Free

Evyn Spencer
: Junior
: Free/Back/Fly/IM