Men’s and Women’s Swimming Take on Higher Altitude

The Seattle University Men’s and Women’s swim team traveled to Colorado Springs as the women competed against University of Northern Colorado, Incarnate Word and Air Force, while the men faced Air Force and Incarnate Word on both Friday and Saturday.

The men’s side unfortunately fell to both Air Force (162-58) and Incarnate Word (136-90.5). The men’s team, however, had some strong performances as Mitchell Crossen had an impressive performance as he soared to a first-place finish in the 200 freestyle — clocking in a time of 1:44.30. Crossen also finished third in the 100-freestyle.

Sophomore Greg Raper showed off his speed as he placed second in the 50-freestyle, swimming his way to a time of 21.48. Senior Morgan Montemayor also grabbed a silver medal and placed second in the 100-backstroke with a time of 52.30. Switching gears, the women’s team also fell to Air Force 190-44, Incarnate Word 161-71, and Northern Colorado 164-70. Starting things off for the Redhawks was senior Madi Lydig. She had a strong race in the 200-backstroke as she took home the gold, racing her way to a 2:05.24 finish.

“I think it was really hard for us because of the altitude, and there also wasn’t a warm-up/warm-down pool, but I think as a team we adjusted really well and we worked with what we had,” Lydig said. “And we were all supportive of each other. Even though we might not have swam very well, we still think it was a pretty good meet.”

Lydig also earned second place honors in the 1000-freestyle with a time of 10:53.33. Senior Paige Treff also grabbed a silver medal as she placed second in the 50-freestyle timing in at 24.11, just barely missing her chance at grabbing the gold.

Treff continued her impressive meet as she grabbed another top three title by placing third in the 100-freestyle 53.93. “I think it was a really meet. We always have a hard time when we go to higher altitude, but swimming together just made it more fun,” she said.

Head coach Craig Nisgor was satisfied with the team’s results. “I think we did pretty well. I mean it’s definitely a different environment, we were up there racing Air Force and University of Northern Colorado. The facility that we normally swim at (the Air Force Academy) was down, which is why we were at Colorado College,” he said. “So, it changed things up a bit with the warm-up and warm-down procedure. I think that we still came through. We had some really good swims, the competition was definitely tough.”