Results

GENEVA, Ohio -- In what has become a yearly mid-February tradition, the Wayne State University women's swimming and diving program set a GLIAC record with 959 points to claim its fifth consecutive conference title and eighth in the last nine years.  The eight women's league titles equals the all-time GLIAC mark set by Oakland University (1989-1997).

The 959 points is the highest total in the 26-year history of the women's GLIAC championship meet, and helped the Warriors easily outscore second-place Grand Valley by 292 points (959-667).  WSU eclipsed the 900-point plateau for the third time in the last five years.  Northern Michigan finished third with 576 points and was followed by Ashland (454), Findlay (367), Hillsdale (337), Lake Erie (157), Malone (130), Tiffin (64) and GLIAC affiliate Ursuline College (36).

The Saturday evening finals began with WSU claiming four of the top nine spots in the 1650 free.  Junior Kristina Novichenko (Seversk, Russia) won the event with a time of 16:54.90.  She was followed by teammates Kelsey Dischler (Macomb, Mich. / Henry Ford II) and Veronica Loock (Rochester Hills, Mich. / Rochester) in fifth (17:29.74) and sixth (17:35.25), respectively.  Mallory Moore (West Bloomfield, Mich.), Alycen Wiacek (Rochester Hills, Mich. / Rochester) and Michelle Adamic (Chesterfield, Mich. / L'Anse Creuse North) rounded out the Warrior scorers in the 1650 free.

In the 100 free, junior Gloria Martinez Perez (Merida, Spain) placed fifth (51.91) with sophomore Elly Maleski (Cedar, Mich. / Traverse City West) finishing sixth (51.98).  Junior Marissa Swartz (Washington, Mich. / Romeo) placed 15th (53.48).

WSU had three of the top four finishers in the 200 back led by GLIAC Champion Carol Azambuja (Sao Paulo, Brazil), who broke her own GLIAC meet record set two years ago with a time of 1:57.99.  Junior Kei Cze Prentis (Shelby Twp., Mich. / Utica Eisenhower) placed third (2:03.16), while freshman Emily Maraskine (Midland, Mich. / Dow) was fourth (2:03.43).

In the final individual event of the competition, Wayne State had two swimmers in each of the championship and consolation finals of the 200 breast.  Senior Kayla Scott (Rochester, Mich. / Adams) was second (2:16.86) with sophomore Hannah Loesch (Harbor Springs, Mich. / Homeschooled) finishing seventh (2:20.98).  Sophomore Manuela Ferreira (Ibague, Colombia) won the consolation finals to place ninth (2:20.15), with freshman Emily Heitchue (Royal Oak, Mich.) finishing 12th (2:24.09).

The 400 free relay quartet of Prentis, Maleski, Loesch and Martinez Perez finished fourth with a time of 3:27.76.

In the awards ceremony held at the conclusion of the meet, WSU senior diver Paige Kortman (Holland, Mich.) was voted GLIAC Female Diver of the Year for the second straight season.  Senior Carol Azambuja (Sao Paulo, Brazil) was named GLIAC Female Swimmer of the Year, also for the second consecutive year.

Head coach Sean Peters was presented with the GLIAC Women's Coach of the Year award for the seventh time in the last nine years.  He has won either the Men's Coach of the Year, or the Women's Coach of the Year, or both every year since 2002.