The William Jewell Cardinals men’s and women’s swim teams just returned from a very successful Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) meet. The women’s team placed fourth and the men’s team fifth in the conference. Both teams have noticeably improved from last season.

“The men’s team was fifth place by 79 points last year, and this year we were fifth place by five points,” Coach Mark Gole said. “We’ve closed the gap a little bit on Lewis [University].”

The women’s team was within five points of third place.

“Overall, out of 38 school records, [the men and women’s teams] broke 34 of them. So from top to bottom, our team did very well,” Gole said.

Nationals are looming, with the invite list set to release next week. Paige Meredith, sophomore, is currently ranked 13th in the country for the 100-meter butterfly, and Nationals will invite back 19 women for that event. Meredith currently stands the best chance of receiving an invitation.

The women’s team enjoyed many successes on the first day of Conference, with Maggie Metz, senior, winning second, Alex Millhuff, first-year, sixth and Heather Cistola, sophomore, seventh in the 1000-meter freestyle.

“In the very first individual event in the entire competition we had every swimmer who swam score for us. I believe that event gave our team momentum and confidence, and we ran with it,” Gole said.

The men’s team also enjoyed many successes at the GLVC meet. Matt Luton, senior, Lane Bland, sophomore and Henning Kunkel, first-year, all scored in the 1000-meter freestyle.

“One of the biggest highlights of the meet was freshman João Pedro Granato winning the 1650 meter freestyle. That was the first ever win in the Great Lakes Valley Conference for program. It was very exciting to see him do that,” Gole said.

Granato went on to win GLVC’s “Freshman of the Year,” an award decided on by all of the head coaches at the conference.

“I think the most exciting moment at conference is when I discovered I got selected as Freshman of the Year. I was in the bathroom, and when I got back, I wasn’t sure what was going on. But when they told me [I won], I was super happy and satisfied about it,” Granato said. “I’m happy that the team got where it is right now. We accomplished a lot of things this year, and next year hopefully we’ll accomplish more.”

The William Jewell College men’s and women’s swimming teams hosted an intra-squad scrimmage over the weekend in preparation for their upcoming season. Jewell swimming will field a team with four full scholarship classes since swimming was reinstated as a program in 2011.  The scrimmage capped off the annual red versus black week. The team captains, Maggie Metz, senior; Rachel Kaegi, junior; Nathan Graber, senior; and Shane Ahrens, junior, drafted teams at the beginning of the week. The teams competed in other events earlier in the week, including ultimate frisbee and a pull-up contest, that was culminated by the scrimmage.

On the women’s side, the black squad, captained by Metz, upended the red squad, captained by Kaegi, by a score of 108 to 85. Metz lead the black team, taking first in the 800m freestyle with a time for 9:37.47, the 400m freestyle with a time of 4:42.83, and the 200m freestyle with a time of 2:12.60. Jordan Hamilton, first-year, took first in the 50m freestyle for the red team with a time of 29.81. In the 200m individual medley and the 100m freestyle, Paige Meredith, sophomore, led all swimmers with a time of 2:28.85 and 1:02.44, respectively. Kaegi took first in the 200m butterfly with a time of 2:28.25. In the 200m backstroke, Ida Nyman, junior, won with a time of 2:26.65 for the red team. Taylor Hunt, sophomore, took first in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:52.53 for the black team. In the 400m medley relay, the black team, consisting of Shea Marcinski, Brytany Stewart, first-years, Hunt, and Meredith took first with a time of 4:40.87. Alex Millhuff, first-year; Heather Cistola, sophomore; Haley Ramsey; sophomore; and Hamilton took first in the 400m freestyle relay with a time of 4:16.80 for the red team.

The men’s team saw the red squad, captained by Graber, overtook the Ahrens-captained black squad by score of 118-86. The men’s competition was highlighted by Joao Pedro Granato, first-year. He broke the Mabee Center pool record in the 800m freestyle with a time of 8:27.64. He also won the 400m freestyle with a time of 4:06.30 for the red team. Matt Luton, senior, of the red team took first in the 200m freestyle with a time of 1:58.72. For the black team, Max Bennet, junior, took first in the 50m freestyle with a time of 24.80, and Daniel Day, junior, took first in the 200m individual meter with a time of 2:16.46. Graber took first in the 200m butterfly with a time of 2:15.16. Samuel Schaefer, first-year, won the 100m freestyle with a time of 54.03. Uriah Rieners, junior, took first in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:24.69, and Parker Temple, junior, took first in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:15.26, all for the red team. In the 400m medley relay, the black team, consisting of Day, Aubrey Churchman, junior; Trey Roggenstein, first-year; and Craig Haug, first-year, took first with a time of 4:03.06. Granato, Luton, Schaefer, and Keaton Dir, first-year, took first in the 400m freestyle relay with a time of 3:38.80 for the red team.

The swimming team looks to build on a successful 2013-2014 competition year.  With a full team, they will no longer sacrifice points if a given race is unfilled. The team competed in the Show-Me-Showdown at the University of Missouri at the beginning of October. The men’s and women’s team both placed eighth. The teams will travel to Indianapolis, Ind. Oct. 31 to take on the Indianapolis University Greyhounds. The Cardinals’ first home meet is scheduled for Nov. 15 when they take on Lindenwood University and the University of Missouri – St. Louis.

For more photos from the Red  vs. Black meet visit 1st 451 Photography to view photos taken by Ken Metz.   http://www.1st451.com/WilliamJewellCollege/201415-Swimming/Red-vs-Black-Meet/.