Track and Field

The men’s and women’s track teams have been busy training and competing at indoor meets this quarter.  On the men’s side, sophomore Drew Clark won the 3000-meter with a career personal record of 8:47.28.  For the women, sophomore Mackenzie Olson looks to be an asset on the track.  In her last race, she was able to drop her time in the 3000-meter by 12 seconds to 12:12.90.  The team is scheduled to compete tomorrow, Feb. 6, at Illinois College.

Swimming and Diving

Principia hosted the Panther Invitational on Jan. 30, at which the men’s team took first place.  The day was filled with season bests for the men.  Senior captain Bob Cleveland swam a season best 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:15.25.  Freshman Chip Jackson secured a season best in the 1650-meter with a time of 19:48.09.  Freshman Tyler Loechner swam 57.65 in the 100-meter backstroke for a season best.  Junior diver Nick Trapp took first place on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards.  The weekend before the Panther Invitational, the women swam against Washington University and had several season bests. Senior captain Jenny Bailey had two season bests and individual wins in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 25.31 and a time of 55.84 in the 100-meter freestyle. Freshman Jenna Mehlenbacher swam the 200-IM and the 100-meter fly, and earned season bests in both with a time of 2:22.32 for the IM and 1.07.36 in the 100-meter.  Finally, junior Lexi Meidell had two season bests in the 200-IM with a time of 2:49.25, and swam a 1:22.21in the 100 breaststroke.  Both teams will compete again at home on Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. against Lindenwood University and Illinois College.