Sports : VSU swimmers lose to teams with divers in double dual meet

Clarissa Carolan Natalie Tecklenburg The VSU swimmers lost in a double dual last week against Grinnell & Boone. Final team scores were: VSU 88 vs Grinnell 93; and VSU 76 vs Boone 93. "It was our numbers (or lack thereof) that did us in last night," says Coach Ashley Hesson. "The girls all swam really well, but when we only have 1 or 2 entries in each event, where the other team has 3, it's nearly impossible to keep up with them. Grinnell had 3 divers, where we have none - so there again is 3 top places they earn with no points by us. When the nearest pool with diving boards is 30+ miles away, it's hard to have any VSU diving entries. Diving also counts as an athlete's individual event - so we would lose a swimming entry to gain a diving one. It's just tough system to compete within." Coach Hesson also cites the following successes: "We won 2 relays and 5 individual events, with other girls placing in the top 3 in 5 other events. But it just wasn't enough. Grinnell and Boone both have lots of talent on their teams, I don't mean to discredit their efforts in any way. But if we had even just a few more swimmers, we'd be even tougher to beat than we already are. "It's hard for the girls to swim so hard over and over again, to perform so well, and not come home with a victory. But it fuels their determination - and their recruiting for next year. "Lizzie Moore, Clarissa Carolan, Amanda Cardenas, and Natalie Tecklenburg (that's half our team) all swam events back to back, and did very well! The other 4 girls swam events with only 1 in between theirs. Arabella Shepard improved her own 500 freestyle record to 5:39.54. Natalie Tecklenburg, Amanda Cardenas and Geordyn Webster also dropped time in their key events. All in all, it was a night of solid performances - it just didn't have the end result we wanted." See complete results here:results for 092062017 grinnell meet