Goshia's school records pace Simpson
PRINCIPIA, Ill. – Keely Goshia (Mead, Colo./Niwot) finished off her breakthrough freshman campaign by setting school records in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly as Simpson finished the season at the 2010 Liberal Arts Championships over the weekend, hosted by Principia College.
Simpson joined Iowa Conference foes Luther, Loras and Coe along with Lindenwood, Illinois Tech, McMurry, Minnesota-Morris, Eureka and Principia. The Simpson women's team finished ninth of 10 teams (119) while the men rounded out the nine-team field. Luther won the women's event with 942 points and Lindenwood claimed the men's title with 893.5 points.
"We showed a lot of improvement over the weekend and really throughout the whole season," head coach Aaron Strain said. "The athletes can hold their heads high and be proud of the hard work that they put in over the season. It really paid off over the last few days."
Goshia swam a season-best time of 1:05.80 in the finals of the 100-fly, placing 11th and giving her the school record set in 2008 by Kristen Towne (1:06.92). Then, for the third time this season, she reset the school record in the 200-fly with a 2:26.28 in the finals, giving her seventh place. She broke her own record set Jan. 15 at the Grinnell Invite (2:29.01).
Goshia also placed 17th in the 200-yard IM (2:28.12) and swam on Simpson's sixth-place 200-yard freestyle relay, the ninth-place 400-yard medley relay, the ninth place 200-yard medley relay and the ninth-place 400-yard freestyle relay.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Becca Harris (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) swam a 2:21.49, just missing the finals. Abby Weers (Anamosa, Iowa/Anamosa) found herself only one spot out of contention for the finals in the 100-yard breaststroke, taking 17th in the prelims with a 1:24.40. Catherine Mayes (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) finished only two spots out of the finals in both the 100-yard backstroke (1:14.15) and 200-yard backstroke (2:36.75).
In Simpson's best relay of the day, the combination of Lauren Frodyma (Council Bluffs, Iowa/Underwood), Goshia, Mayes and Harris took sixth in the 200-yard freestyle relay after entering the finals with the eighth-best time. The group shaved more than a second off their qualifying time, completing the relay in 1:53.04.
On the men's side, Terry Hodge (Kansas City, Mo./Raytown) turned in the top performance of the day with a 1:07.61 in the 100-yard breaststroke, placing 17th and just missing the finals. Conor Fair (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) and Andrew Kline (St. Paul, Minn./Central) took 25th and 26th, respectively in the 500-yard freestyle. Fair turned in a time of 6:05.99 while Kline completed the event in 6:49.47.
