Milligan finishes second at Transylvania Invitational 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 8, 2019) – The Milligan College swim team competed in the Transylvania Invitational Dec. 7 and 8 in Lexington, Kentucky, and finished the weekend in second place with a combined score of 1177. 

Milligan was the only NAIA school competing in a pool of Division III opponents. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology finished in first place with an overall score of 1458. 

Overall Milligan broke six school records, had 41 career best times and 31 individual national cuts. 

For the women 

The women finished with a score of 580. Maggie Halloran continued her stellar junior year with multiple first-place finishes. She won the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:13. Halloran then won the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:13 and the 200 free at 1:58. Halloran also had national cut times in the 500 free, 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 200 free. 

Other first place finishes included Anna Hathcock who won the 200 fly with a time of 2:18 which also was a national cut time. The women also won the 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay and the 200 free relay. 

Lindsey Grow broke two school records in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley. She recorded national cuts in those two events along with the 200 breaststroke and 400 individual medley. 

Other national cut times for the women included Anna Backus in the 50 free, Rachel Scheffer in the 100 free, 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly, and Jordan Clark in the 100 butterfly.

On the men's side

The men finished with 597 points. Ben Hawkins won a tight race in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:00.69. The runner-up from Rose-Hulman finished with a time of 1:00.72, the third-place finisher had a time of 1:00.87 and the fourth-place finisher had a time of 1:00.93. Hawkins also set new school records in the 500 free and 400 individual medley and had national cuts in the 400 individual medley, 500 free, 200 breaststroke and 100 breaststroke.

In the 100 backstroke Sterling Burnett won with a time of 51.27 after finishing fourth in the preliminary round with a time of 56.15. Burnett also broke the school record with this time and earned a national A cut. He broke the school record in the 200 backstroke as well and earned a national cut in that race as well. He earned two other national cuts in the 50 free and the 100 free. 

Other notable results from this weekend included the men's 400 medley relay team capturing a new school record and three other national cut finishes. Mitchell Martin recieved national cuts in the 500 free and 1650 free, Logan Garazino in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke and Matthew McFalls in the 50 free, 100 free and the 200 free. 

Up next 

This was the last competition for the swim team for the 2019 portion of their season. Their next competition will be Saturday, Jan. 25, as they host the Milligan College Invitational.