Lewis Athletics
Luke Rinne, Director of Athletic Communications
ROMEOVILLE – Lewis’ women’s swimming turned in a dominant performance winning 13 of 14 races in its season opening 139-114 win over St. Ambrose on Saturday afternoon at the Lewis Swimming Pool in Romeoville, Ill.
Larissa Alves (Panama/) led the way winning three races while Stephanie Palczynski (Warrenville, IL/Wheaton Warrenville South High School), Melanie Patterson (Aurora, Ill./Metea Valley), Mariia Melnichuk() and Kiara Barnes (Cape Town, South Africa/) won two events each.
Alves picked up wins in the 100-yard butterfly with a winning time of 1:02.37, in the 100-yard freestyle in 55.63 seconds and the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:16.28.
Palczynski picked up wins in the 200-yard freestyle with a winning time of 2:03.04 and in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00.48. Patterson won the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 32.36 seconds and the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:11.25.
Melnichuk picked up wins in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.12 and the 50-yard backstroke in 28.30 seconds. Barnes won both the 500-yard and 1,000-yard freestyles in times of 5:36.88 and 11:26.38 respectively.
Lewis’ 200-yard medley relay squad of Melnichuk, Patterson, Ianthe Van Der Westhuizen (Randfontein, South Africa) and Vladislava Saliieva (Odessa, Ukraine/) turned in a performance of 1:53.53 to win the event by nearly three seconds.
The Flyers 200-yard freestyle relay team of Alves, Rachel Marsh (Houston, Texas/Mirabeau B. Lamar), Palczynski and Saliieva won the race with a time of 1:44.18.
Second place finishes were also produced by Van Der Westhuizen in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:05.84 and Maddy Wagner (Hickman, Neb./Norris) in the 50-yard backstroke in 30.18 seconds.
Lewis got third place showings from Krystal Gillespie (Yorkville, IL/Yorkville High School) in the 50-yard backstroke with a time of 32.07 seconds, Cetta Senese (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) in the 50-yard breaststroke in 34.12 seconds and the 200-yard medley relay team of Wagner, Senese, Daniela Navarrete (Panama City, Panama/)and Marie Gryzbek in a time of 1:59.42.
The Flyers return to the pool on Friday, Oct. 23 as it hosts Lincoln College in a dual beginning at 5:30 p.m.