Coyotes host senior day inter-squad meet

Blizzard-like conditions prevented Iowa Central Community College from traveling to Vermillion for USD’s senior day swim and dive meet on Saturday, but USD’s team decided to perform an inter-squad meet in place of the originally scheduled competition. 

The meet is the only one held in Vermillion this school year and with Iowa Central CC not being able to travel, the Senior Day meet was in danger of not being held at all. 

“Swimming in the dome for the last time was nostalgic, but also weird to think about how our actual last meet in the dome against another team was beating SDSU last year,” senior swimmer Jack Lawrence said. “It was special that our last meet was an inter-squad Red v. White meet. It made it very intimate and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Lawrence won the 400-meter freestyle event and third in the 800-meter freestyle. Senior Josh Sorbe won the 200-meter freestyle and placed third in the 200-meter breaststroke. 

The other seniors who competed are Nathan Spencer, Christian Fossum, Tanner Espersen, Jordan Thielbar, Sabrina Sabadeanu and Charlie Mechling.

Sabadeanu won the 100-meter backstroke and was a part of the winning 200 medley relay team as well. Mechling swam the second leg of her team’s 200-meter freestyle relay. The team won by 11 seconds. 

Spencer placed fourth in two individual events and third in a relay. Fossum competed in four events, placing second in 3 of them and third in the other. Espersen placed second in the 100-meter backstroke and fifth in two other events. Thielbar competed in the 100-meter breaststroke, placing fourth.

The Coyotes are scheduled to travel Saturday to Brookings to compete against South Dakota State.