Season Preview: 2023-24 Women’s Swimming

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (September 25, 2023) – The Milligan University women's swimming team returns to action as one of the NAIA's top programs after claiming a second-straight Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) championship and top-five national finish last winter.

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Milligan starts its 2023-24 campaign at the King Invitational on Sept. 30.

2022-23 Season Review: The Buffs repeated as fifth-place finishers at the NAIA National Championships and achieved several notable program firsts. Freshman Riley Renaud captured the program's first-ever NAIA National Championship in the 1650-yard freestyle, a record 12 All-America honors and a team-best 284 points at the national championship meet.

At the AAC Championships, Milligan won 16 of 18 conference titles and set a conference championship record with 1,057 total points, more than doubling the second-place team. The Buffs set seven AAC Championships meet records and head coach Spencer Scarth was honored as the AAC Women's Coach of the Year for the first time.

"Still hard to believe last year was only our second ever conference title," said Sarth. "These women have turned the conference on their heads and have been dominant in doing so. They have also started to close the gap on the teams in front of us at the national level and have set us up for another outstanding season!"

Milligan's women set 15 program records (10 individual, five relay) and had three student-athletes named College Sports Communicators Academic All-Americans. The Buffs earned CSCAA Scholar All-American Team honors for the fourth-straight year and had nine student-athletes collect CSCAA Scholar All-American honors.

Key Returners: Milligan welcomes back eight scorers from the 2022-23 NAIA National Championships and 17 of 18 scorers from last year's conference championship meet.

"Both teams retained so much depth and talent and have started setting a tone of knowing what we are capable of doing," said Scarth. "Not going in and just competing but competing to be the best. We have a lot of experienced ladies that will continue to foster growth for our first years and sophomores."

Renaud made team history last year as the squad's first NAIA national champion. In a dramatic timed final, she edged Keiser's Rachel Bradley with a school record time of 17:21.03. Renaud also picked up All-America honors in the 500 free and as a member of the Buffs' third-place 800-yard freestyle relay. Renaud was honored as the AAC Swimmer of the Year and AAC Freshman of the year at the conference championship. She won AAC titles in the 200 free, 500 free and 1650 free, setting the conference championship record in the mile. Renaud set all three of Milligan's distance freestyle records in 2022-23.

The transformative trio of Gabby MacPherson, Tyler Cates and Kaylee Williams each enter their season as multi-year All-Americans and school record holders.

MacPherson is a seven-time individual All-American and a 14-time relay All-American. Last winter, she earned All-America honors with a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly and sixth-place finish in the 500 free. MacPherson swam on all five of the Buffs' All-America relays. MacPherson, a six-time individual AAC champion, won both conference butterfly titles last winter. In 2022, MacPherson was named the AAC Swimmer of the Year and led the Buffs with 36 points at the NAIA National Championships.

Cates is a five-time backstroke All-American and a 10-time relay All-American. She finished fifth in the 100-yard backstroke to earn individual All-America honors at the national championship meet last winter. She swam a school record time of 2:02.88 in the 200 back final, the fourth-fastest time of meet, but had to settle for ninth place due to being in the consolation final. Cates earned three relay All-American honors last year as a member of both Buffs medley relays and their 800 free relay. She is a five-time AAC individual champion in backstroke events, winning the 100 back last year.

Williams is a four-time individual All-American and four-time relay All-American as the top breaststroker in program history. She finished sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke and seventh in the 100 breast at the NAIA National Championships, breaking her own school records in both events. Williams also swam on both All-American medley relays. During her time in the AAC, Williams has swept the breaststroke conference championships each of the last three years. After the season, she was honored as a CSC Academic All-American.

Sophomore Mary Grace Bitting notched top-15 national finishes at the NAIA National Championships in three events as a freshman. She narrowly missed a spot in the championship final in the 200 fly before finishing second in the consolation final. Bitting went on to finish 15th in the 100 fly and 14th in the 200-yard individual medley. Bitting swam on a pair of All-American relays, the 200 and 400 free relays. At the conference championship meet Bitting won the AAC title in the 200 IM and was the conference runner-up in the 200 free and 200 fly.

Senior Samantha van Vuure earned five relay All-America honors in her first season with the Buffs last winter. The Indian River State College transfer was a national qualifier in the 500 free, 200 back and 400 IM. She finished 12th in the 200 back and 13th in the 400 IM. Van Vuure won the conference championship in the 200 back and was the runner-up in the 500 free and 400 IM.

Junior Liz Mahan is a five-time relay All-American and swam on a pair of the Buffs' All-American relays last year. She was a national qualifier in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free. Mahan claimed the AAC title in the 50 free and was the runner-up in the 200 free. Mahan was named a CSC Academic All-American after the season.

Junior Emma Rae Phillips scored at the NAIA National Championships with a 12th-place finish in the 400 IM. She also qualified in the 1650 free and 200 IM. Phillips was the AAC runner-up in the 1650 free, third in the 200 IM and fourth in the 400 IM.

Sophomore Apple Burton also scored for the Buffs in the 400 IM with a 16th-place showing. She set a school record in the event (4:39.72) at Milligan's midseason meet at Kenyon. Burton was also a national qualifier in the 200 IM and the 1650 free. She finished third in the 1650 free and 400 IM at the AAC Championships.

Sophomore Alex Hayashi qualified for nationals in the 100 and 200 fly. She finished third in the 100 fly and sixth in the 100 breast at the AAC Championships. Hayashi posted top-five times in team history in both butterfly events as a freshman.

Junior Mirella Rutigliano was the conference runner-up in the 100 breast and third-place finisher in the 200 breast. She added a seventh-place showing in the 200 IM. Both of Rutigliano's conference championship efforts were personal-bests and rank top-five in program history.

Junior Suzy Aguirre took third in the 100 free, fourth in the 500 free and fifth in the 50 free at the AAC Championships. Her 100 free was the seventh-fastest in team history.

Sophomore Kaelin Forscutt finished fourth in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free at the AAC Championships, with personal best times in the 50 and 100 freestyles.

Sophomore Sammy MacPherson placed fourth in the 100 back, 200 back and 100 fly at the conference meet. She appeared in Milligan's all-time top 10 in six different events as a freshman.

Sophomore Virginia Rainer earned bronze in the 100 breast at the AAC Championships and swam in championship finals in the 50 free and 200 breast.

Junior Grace Feeney finished fifth in the 100 back, 200 back and 100 fly at the AAC Championships.

Junior Mackenzie LaFrance swam in championship finals at the conference meet in the 400 IM, 100 back and 200 back, placing fifth in the 400 IM.

Newcomers: The Buffs welcome five newcomers to the women's swimming roster for 2023-24.

"Five swimmers, four different states or countries," said Scarth. "This is a very well-rounded group that really wants to be here for Milligan: for the academics, for the swimming, and for the community we have here. Picking up the NAIA Women's Swimming Academic All-American of the Year is not something most programs can say, and we are lucky to have made it happen with Hanne."

Tessa Schwartz I Franklin County High School I Winchester, TN
Mikayla Best I Southwest Aquatics of Georgia I Hamilton, GA
Abigail Jackson I YNWL Bolts I Shreveport, LA
Sarah Melinsky I Barracuda Swim Club I Jonesborough, TN
Hanne te Velthuis I University of the Cumberlands I Beerzerveld, Overijssel. The Netherlands

Looking at the Schedule: The Buffs will see several high-level competition against NCAA Division I, II and III and NAIA teams over the course of the season prior to the AAC Championships at the Kingsport Aquatic Center Feb. 8-10. The NAIA National Championships return to the Columbus Aquatic Center for the third-straight season March 6-9.

The Buffs have several high-profile duals against NCAA Division I Gardner Webb (Sept. 21), NCAA Division II Carson-Newman (Nov. 10) and NAIA powerhouse Cumberlands (Jan. 20).

The Buffs start the season at the Kingsport Aquatic Center with the King Invitational on Sept. 29-30. The Buffs head to South Carolina for their midseason meet, the Gamecock Invitational, Nov. 17-19.

Milligan will compete at the CSCAA Open Water Nationals for the second time in the last three seasons. This year the event will be held at Biscayne Bay in Florida on Dec. 17.

"I say this every year, but yet again, this will be the hardest schedule yet," said Scarth. "The King Invite will segway us well into our competitive phase, and will be a good refresher on our conference location. We are looking forward to a few new meets this season—DI Gardner Webb, a host of DIs at the Gamecock Invite at SEC power South Carolina, DII Lenoir Rhyne, DIII Birmingham Southern and NAIA Loyola. We're blessed to have so many unique opportunities to compete against high level programs that may not have even glanced at us a few years ago, and we are looking forward to starting our competitive phase soon!"

Last Word: "Our coaching staff has said multiple times over the summer and over the first few weeks of practice about how there are so many unknowns this season, in a good way!" said Scarth. "We're in a position where multiple relay spots in all five relays are far from set in stone because of the depth we now have. There is also the unknown of going into a very different schedule this season, but we are looking forward to new challenges in new locations. We know that the teams in the mix with us at the top of the NAIA are tough to overcome, but we're going to give it everything we can to see if we can set some more history this season."