HICKORY, N.C. – For the second time in the same weekend, the Lenoir-Rhyne Women’s Swimming Team split a tri-meet event with a 136-115 victory over Emory & Henry, and a 144-116 defeat to Converse.
In the relay races, Ella Penny, Anna Buchert, Ann-Cathrine Beissel, and Devin Poteat represented LR in both the 400-yard freestyle and individual medley events. The group took the top spot in the freestyle race with a time of 3:47.00 while the team finished second in the individual medley race with a 4:13.55 posting.
Poteat, a native of Denver, N.C., took the top spot in the 200-yard breaststroke event with a time of 2:30.95. The sophomore also picked up a second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke race with a time of 1:10.67, finishing under a second behind Converse’s Laureen Roussel.
Penny, a native of Greer, S.C., also recorded an individual victory with a first-place time of 1:05.15 in the 100-yard backstroke, outdueling Converse’s Kaitlin Williams (1:06.51) and teammate Katherine Hudson (1:06:64). The sophomore also had a second-place result in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:16.62.
Buchert, a native of Spartanburg, S.C., finished first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:25.02, which was roughly 15 seconds faster than Converse’s Julia Beebe, who finished as the runner-up. The freshman also finished five tenths of a second behind Emory & Henry’s Mack Barnett in the 200-yard freestyle race with her time of 2:01.32.
Beissel, a native of Wuppertal, Germany, recorded two top three finishes in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly events. In the 100-yard race, Beissel recorded a third-place finish thanks to her 1:03.74 result.
The freshman’s best finish came in the 200-yard butterfly with a second-place time of 2:27.65. That time was nearly five seconds faster than third-place finisher and teammate Isabelle Hurd, who produced a time of 2:32.34.
In the 1000-yard freestyle event, Katelyn Toelle recorded a second-place time of 12:03.29. That performance is a new season best for the Hanahan, S.C. native.
The Lenoir-Rhyne Women’s Swimming Team will wrap up its regular season on Saturday, Jan. 13, as the Bears host Chowan in a dual meet. The scheduled time of the competition is still yet to be determined.