Saint Mary's finished in fifth place this weekend in the DePauw Swimming Invitational, the best the Belles have ever done at the meet.
"Mostly everyone had either their best times of the season or close to their best times," Belles junior captain Melissa Gerbeth said. "Attitudes were positive, and it was encouraging to get some reward from all the hard work we have been putting in."
This meet differed from the Belles' previous meets of the season because it was an invitational that included both preliminary races and finals. Swimmers had to qualify in the top 16 in prelims in order to make it to the finals.
"The competition was pretty intense - there were swimmers of all speeds, so it was nice to see where you landed among that spread," said Gerbeth, who placed sixth in the finals of the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 5:01.20.
Other key contributors for the Belles included several freshmen. Freshman Lauren Hartman placed 10th in the 50-yard freestyle. Her classmates Maggie Williams and Casey Niezer placed sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke. Freshman Caroline Arness finished 10th in the 100-yard butterfly.
The 400-yard "A" Free relay placed sixth overall.
Gerbeth was very pleased with her team's effort.
"Everyone swam their hearts out and were encouraging and positive to their teammates," Gerbeth said. "The team definitely bonded after this meet."
