The Lady Hornets of Kalamazoo beat Saint Mary's 143-59 Friday in a MIAA dual meet at Rolf's Aquatic Center. It was the final home meet for the Belles, who have had an up-and-down season this year..
Senior captain Kelly Nelis capped off a very successful home swimming season, posting wins for the Belles in both the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:02.95, and the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:34.02. Nelis' two wins would prove to be the only two victories that the Belles would walk away with from the 12-event meet.
Despite their loss to the Lady Hornets, the Belles are optimistic about the following two weeks. The final regular-season meet this year for the Belles will be a dual meet versus Calvin College and Albion College at Calvin on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Belles' swimmers continue to train hard, focusing on the MIAA Championships in two and a half weeks. To train for the weeks ahead, coach Lynn Kachmarik plans on getting her swimmers in their best possible condition for the competition.
"We will begin our taper [rest] period of training, which means the team does less yardage, more fast swimming to get ready for MIAAs," she said.
The Saint Mary's swimmers hope to put up a tough fight as they look forward to the season-culminating MIAA Swimming and Diving Championships Feb. 9-11 in Grand Rapids, Mich.
