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Swimming looks to next season while Lin looks to NCAA Championships

Ryan Terhune - The Miami Student
Ryan Terhune - The Miami Student

Men and women's swimming and diving's 2016-2017 season has come to a close after a successful run for the RedHawks.

The MAC Championships for the women started on February 22, when they finished fourth, tying with Ohio University. The two events for the day were the 200-meter medley relay and the 800-meter freestyle relay. The women finished off the day with a score of 56 -- 10 points behind third place Eastern Michigan.

The following day closed with a couple of RedHawk women finishing first. In the 500-meter freestyle relay, sophomore Ella Moynihan broke the Miami school record and won the relay with a time of 4:46.65.

Redshirt junior diver Pei Lin continued her successful season on day two, winning the one-meter dive for the third year in a row. The Red and White finished in fourth, again, after day two with a score of 205.

A rewarding day three came to the team, as the women finished second on the day behind Akron. Some notable performances included freshman Carolyn Jungers who placed fourth in the 400-meter IM, earning 15 points for Miami. Also earning 15 points was senior Stephanie LeMire in the 100-meter breaststroke.

In the last day of the MAC Championships, Lin won the three-meter dive for the third straight year. Lin helped propel the Lady RedHawks all season and continued to show her talent in the MAC Championships. She won the Diver of the Year award for the third year in a row.

The Red and White finished fourth overall with 518.5 points in the women's MAC Championships.

For the men, their championships started on March 1 and continued through March 4. On the first day, the RedHawks broke two school records. First was the 200-meter medley relay team of sophomore James Wray, junior Thomas Blackstone, junior Peter Simcox and freshman Nicholas Ward. They beat the previous school record by one minute and 50 seconds.

The team of senior Lucas Brock, senior Jack Strauss, junior Ross Westrick and freshman Justin Andrews beat another school record in the 800-meter freestyle relay. Despite these records being broken, the men finished fifth overall with a score of 60 on the day.

On day two, the RedHawks had a solid performance, ending up in fourth after the second day. Four swimmers finished in the top eight of the 50-meter freestyle -- Andrews, freshman Nicholas Wukovits and junior Ross Rybakowicz earned 20 points for the Red and White in the 200-meter IM. On the third day, the RedHawks remained in fourth place with a score of 379.5.

The notable race came from Wray who finished fourth in the 100-meter backstroke. Brock, Blackstone, and the 400-meter medley relay team also broke school records on day three. On the last day of the championships, the men finished fourth overall with a score of 518.7, behind Buffalo, Missouri State and Eastern Michigan.

After the MAC Championships, the NCAA Zone Championships diving meet started on March 9 where Lin, sophomore Harrison Moncino and senior Sean Sargent all competed. Lin qualified for the NCAA Championships in the three-meter dive, while Sargent finished 17th, and Moncino placed 19th.

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On the second day of the Zone C diving competition, Pei Lin once again impressed and finished second in the one-meter diving event. She will compete in the Women's NCAA Championships starting Wednesday March 15 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Redhawks look to get to work after this postseason and will try and improve for the upcoming season next winter while Lin looks to Wednesday.