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RIPON, Wis. – The 2014 edition of the Midwest Conference (MWC) Swimming and Diving Championships will take place Friday, February 14 through Sunday, February 16, 2013 at the Russell K. Osgood Pool on the campus of Grinnell College.

The Grinnell men continued its championship run with its 12th straight championship in 2013 and swim for the 37th championship in school history. The Grinnell women got back on the winning track last season and have won a league title in 14 of the last 15 years with Lake Forest serving as the only other team with a women’s championship in that run with a title in 2012.

On the women’s side there are 11 individual events that return a champion while the men will have 10 individual events that have a champion returning to defend a title. Along with MWC Championships there will be MWC records and NCAA qualifications at stake as a combined 15 conference records were broken with 15 different events having champions that secured a NCAA “A” cut or “B” cut at the 2013 championships.

After a seventh place finish on the men’s side and a sixth place finish for the women the Beloit swimming and diving team enters 2014 in search of a team championship on either side for the first time since 1950. For the men Will McAneny enters with top-15 times in three different events headlined by the fourth-best time in the 50-freestyle with a time of 22.23. McAneny is also 10th in the 100-freestyle and 14th in the 1,000-freestyle. For the women Shaunte Moss will challenge for gold in the breaststroke events highlighted by a 1:11.35 time in the 100-yard event that is good for sixth in the league. Dana Olesch posted a top-five time in the 100-butterfly (1:02.20) and ranked 13th in the 200-butterfly (2:27.08) during the regular season.

The Carroll men finished fourth last season, just 40 points short of a third place finish, and return a strong trio of swimmers to the pool in 2014. Dylan Coonradt enters the championships ranked fifth in the 100-butterfly with a time of 53.99 while Brody Beyer is seventh in the 50-freestyle (22.50). Alex Schneider has three top-15 times highlighted by a time of 1:03.09 in the 100-breaststroke which is good for eighth in the MWC. Schneider also ranks 11th in the 100-backstroke and 13th in the 200-backstroke. Alyssa Szczepaniak leads the women as she is ranked in the top-five of the league in four different events. Szczepaniak is the favorite in the 100-backstroke with the league’s top time (1:00.01) while posting the second-fastest time in the 200-backstroke (2:14.36). She also ranked fourth in the 200-individual medley (2:18.50) and fifth in the 100-breaststroke (1:11.31). Val Julian has a pair of top-five times for the Pioneer women including the second-best time in the 100-butterfly (1:01.63) and fourth-best in the 50-freestyle (25.51).

Grinnell captured championships on both the men’s and women’s side last season and return nearly all of their championship performers from a season ago. Five individual champions defend titles while five different relay teams aim to repeat in 2014. On the men’s side the Pioneers have eight different swimmers that hold at least one top-five time led by Michael Brus. Brus, the 2013 NCAA champion in the 200-backstroke, holds MWC top times in five different events including the 500-freestyle, 1,000-freestyle, 1,650-freestyle, 100-backstroke, and 400-individual medley while he defends titles in the 200-freestyle, 500-freestyle, and 200-backstroke. Ian Dixon-Anderson has five events where he ranks in the top-three of the league including ranking second in the 500-freestyle (4:47.33), 1,000-freestyle (9:51.91), and 400-individual medley (4:14.66). On the women’s side the Pioneers have 11 swimmers with at least one top-five time with Maddy Pesch (100-breaststroke), Hayley Levin (200-breaststroke, 200-individual medley, 400-individual medley), and Beth Gillig (100-butterfly) who all defending 2013 championships. Levin ranked first in the 200-individual medley (2:15.78) and 400-individual medley (4:47.78) during the regular season while teammates Jalyn Marks (200-butterfly, 2:15.77) and Beth Tsuha (200-freestyle, 1:59.94; 200-breaststroke, 2:30.92) also ranked first in a trio of events.

Illinois Col. moved up on both the men’s and women’s side in 2013 with a sixth place finish for the men and a seventh place finish for the women after finishing ninth and eighth, respectively, the year before. John Hoefert is the team’s top performer in the 200-butterfly with a time of 2:36.37 that ranked 28th in the league while Daniel Coop competes in the 100-breaststroke after posting a team-best time of 1:11.25 during the regular season. Elisha Nelson challenges for a medal in the 100-breaststroke, entering the championships ranked ninth in the event with a time of 1:11.87 while she ranked 16th in the 200-breaststroke. Kelsey Tucker is the team’s top competitor in the 1,650-freestyle with Audrey Brauer pacing the Lady Blues in the 50-freestyle.

Knox slipped at last year’s championships as the men finished ninth and the women finished eighth but look to rebound at Grinnell in 2014. Christopher Walsh headlines the Knox sprint freestyle swimmers with the team’s top times in both the 50- (22.93) and 100-freestyle (55.66) where he ranked 17th in the MWC in the 50-freestyle. Ben Heichman compliments Walsh in the freestyle events as he leads the team in both the 1,000- (12:39.34) and 1,650-freestyle (21:17.27). Madeline Bruce posted a top-10 time in five different events this season including the top time in the 100-butterfly (1:00.99) to enter the championships as the favorite. Bruce also ranked third in the 50- (25.23) and 100-freestyle (55.66) while ranking 10th in the 1,000-freestyle (11:34.83) and the 200-individual medley (2:21.32). Lauren Lee ranked 13th during the season with a time of 20:45.98 in the 1,650-freestyle and will challenge for a place on the medal stand.

After winning the women’s championship in 2012 both the men and women were runners-up in 2013 and now aim to sweep the championships for the first time since 1998. The Forester men return three champions from last season over five events and also defend a relay championship in the 200-freestyle. Garr Punnett won gold in the 100-butterfly, and 200-individual medley where he ranked tops in the conference in the butterfly events and third in the individual medley. Mark Wilcoxen (1,650-freestyle) and Emile Siroit (400-individual medley) also defend championships while teammate Kristopher Korth enters with top times in the 100- (59.86) and 200-breaststroke (2:08.25). The Lake Forest men were especially dominant in the butterfly events (100-, 200-) and the 200-individual medley as they had four of the top-five ranked swimmers in each. The Forester women bring back a bevy of champions from last season as three swimmers defend titles in six events while also defending four relay championships. Alex Dunn enters with the top time in the 50- (24.97) and 100-freestyle (55.49), both events she won in 2013, while she also swims for back-to-back championships in the 200-freestyle. Christina Pekar won gold in the 1m- and 3m-dive last season and dives for consecutive titles in both while Brooke Rowley won the 200-butterfly in 2013 and enters the 2014 championships ranked fourth (2:21.66).

With a fifth place men’s finish and a fourth place women’s finish the Lawrence swimming and diving team is poised to move up in the standings into the top-three for the first time since the 2011 championships. Charlie Mann ranks ninth in the league entering the championships in the 100-freestyle (49.47) while also posting a top-15 time in the 50-freestyle (14th, 22.79). Evan Flack pushes for a medal in the 100- (50.75) and 200-freestyle (1:52.26) while teammate Grant Wilkie joins Mann in the 50-freestyle with a time of 23.02. Taylor Winter and Paige Winter pair up for top-three times in five different events and headline the Vikings women’s team heading to Grinnell. Taylor Winter holds the top time in the 1,650-freestyle (18:17.16) while she ranked second in both the 500- (5:17.93) and 1,000-freestyle (10:58.10). Paige Winter ranked third in the 100- (1:01.68) and 200-butterfly (2:19.47) as well as the 500-freestyle (5:22.00) while Hayley Cardinal posted the league’s top time in the 100-breastroke (1:08.00).

Monmouth captured a pair of third place finishes last season and aims for the school’s first championship in school history. The Fighting Scots men are led by Raheem Brown who posted the league’s second-best times in the breaststroke events, finishing the 100- in 1:00.28 and the 200- in 2:14.03. Patrick Inness ranked in the top-10 in both the 50- (seventh, 22.50) and 100-freestyle (eighth, 49.26) while teammate Gabe Baginski is the reigning champion in the 100-freestyle and enters the championships with the sixth-fastest 100-backstroke time (55.35). Cassidy O’Connell headlines the women’s team with a trio of events where she has a top-three time. O’Connell ranked second in both the 200-breaststroke (2:32.48) and the 400-individual medley (4:50.99) during the season and was third in the 200-individual medley (2:17.97). Clarissa Henby is sixth in the 200-butterfly (2:22.54) and Erin Willhite enters as the eighth ranked swimming in the 100-freestyle (56.36).

Ripon aims to move up in the standings after finishing eighth (men) and ninth (women) last season when the Red Hawks travel to Grinnell. On the men’s side Ripon is led by Jonathan Newbery who is one of the favorites in the 50-freestyle after posting the top time during the season (22.07). Newbery also ranked third in the 100-freestyle (48.91) and 12th in the 100-breaststroke (1:04.13) while teammate Quinton Maydaniuk ranked third in the 100-breaststroke and eighth in the 200-breaststroke (2:21.10). For the Red Hawk women Hannah Metz ranked fourth in the 100-freestyle (55.88), fifth in the 50-freestyle (25.55), and sixth in the 100-butterfly (1:02.42) to lead the charge. Winona Holmes Robbins contends in the 200-butterfly (2:24.76) and the 400-individual medley (5:06.04) as she ranked eighth in both events in the regular season.