Records are made to be broken. Last Saturday, freshman Caitlin Fitzpatrick broke four.Competing in the two-day Gene Davis Invitational this past weekend, Saint Mary's finished fourth as a team with 431 points. The Belle's finished behind Invitational winner Gustavus Adolfus who won with 1270 points, Carthage College and Macalester.After the first day of competition, Saint Mary's was off to an incredible start as the Belle's won three of the first six events.Fitzpatrick began with an impressive 200-yard backstroke with an event winning time of 2 minutes and 12.74 seconds. In the 200-yard individual medley, she shattered both season best and meet times. Saint Mary's also won the 800-yard freestyle relay with a meet record time of 8 minutes and 8:88 seconds. Fitzpatrick also broke school records in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1 minute and 3.10 seconds and the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2 minutes and 16.96 seconds. "[Fitzpatrick] had pleasantly surprising times, she had pretty sizable times," said Saint Mary's swimming coach Greg Petcoff. "We wanted everyone to have the opportunity to help the team."The momentum of finishing with top times continued for Saint Mary's as the team entered Saturday's portion of the Invitational. But Saint Mary's remarkable finish came from a culmination of efforts from every swimmer. "We were looking for many people to score," said Petcoff. Notable finishes came from team captain Megan Ramsey, who finished first in the 100 yard fly despite a nagging shoulder injury and Amy Kleinfehn, who dropped 10 seconds from her season best time to finish 14th in the 400 yard individual medley."Everyone sees how hard [Kleinfehn] works and if you keep trying you're going to score points," said Petcoff. "It was a boost because she was the only person entered and she scored." Individually, Ramsey finished first with 60 points and Fitzpatrick finished fifth with 54 points. Kelly Nelis, Julie McGranahan and Maureen Palchak finished 22nd, 33rd and 38th respectively. Due to the impressive results, Saint Mary's is now looking to rework their goals as the Belles near the midpoint of the season. "We are looking to make some NCAA cuts," said Petcoff. "They exceeded expectations and people were right where [the coaches] wanted them to be."
