Michael Brus ’14 earned an NCAA automatic qualifying mark and two Grinnell College men’s relay teams broke Midwest Conference championship records at the 2012 league swimming and diving event Saturday in Appleton, Wis.
Those performances helped the Pioneers keep hold of the team lead after two days.
Brus, an All-American last year in the 200-yard backstroke, earned an automatic trip to nationals in the 200 freestyle with a clocking of 1:39.01. That not only shatters the school record of 1:42.70 set by Peter Brown in 2006, but also beats the MWC Championships record of 1:42.40 recorded by Danny Tarkowski of Lake Forest College in 1994.
The Pioneers set meet records in the 200 medley relay with Brus, Beck Ringdahl-Mayland ’13, Austin Cote ’15 and Marco Fulgoni ’12, and the 800 freestyle relay with Ethan Drutchas ’13, Joe Lytle ’14, Thomas Lankiewicz ’12 and Brus.
The 200 medley unit’s time of 1:34.25 broke the MWC Championships mark and Grinnell school record of 1:34.69, established last year.
The 800 freestyle squad had a time of 6:55.97 to break the meet and Pioneer mark of 7:01.16, set last year.
Grinnell had one other winner Saturday, Will Elsas ’14 in the 400 individual medley. He had a time of 4:25.03.
Runners-up for Grinnell were Ringdahl-Mayland in the 100 breaststroke (59.26) and Ben Weideman ’15 in the 100 backstroke (54.62).
Placing third for Grinnell were James Kent ’14 in the 400 individual medley (4:33.13) and Colin Yarnell ’12 in one-meter diving (422.80).
Michael Riegsecker ’15 was fourth in one-meter diving (340.15), while others placing fourth were Chris Kaiser-Nyman ’13 in the 100 butterfly (54.07), Lankiewicz in the 200 freestyle (1:44.50) and Dylan Gray ’14 in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.20).
Taking fifth were Emanuel Spooner ’13 in the 100 butterfly (54.08), Fulgoni in the 200 freestyle (1:46.62) and Elsas in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.65).
Grinnell, seeking its 11th MWC crown in a row, has 667.5 points compared to runner-up Lake Forest College’s total of 456.5.
The meet concludes Sunday.
