Saint Mary's lost two dual meets this weekend - a close conference contest to Hope and a lopsided away match with Carthage.
The Flying Dutch swam past the Belles at the Rolfs Aquatic Center 132-112 Friday, and the Lady Reds kicked their way to an easy 121-79 victory over the Belles at the Koenitzer Aquatic Center in Kenosha, Wisc. Saturday.
In the first of Saint Mary's two contests, Hope won nine of the meet's 11 events. Flying Dutch freshman Kate Williams led the way, capturing two titles - the 50-yard freestyle (26.15) and the 100-yard butterfly (1:01.46).
But there were a few bright spots for the Belles.
Saint Mary's won both 200-yard freestyle relays over the weekend. The combination of freshmen Sara Niemann and Lindsey Nelis, sophomore Melissa Gerbeth and junior Kelly Tighe captured 18 points, finishing in 1:48.89.
The following day, the group won their event again over Carthage.
Saint Mary's also captured individual breaststroke events both days. Tighe took first in the 100 breaststroke against Hope with a time of 1:16.69, and sophomore Katie Carroll won the 200-yard discipline against Carthage in 2:46.48.
The Belles had two other winners against Carthage. Sophomore Mellissa Gerbeth won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 11:16:49, and Nelis took the 200-yd freestyle in 2:06.92.
Carthage won the rest of the events, but even then Saint Mary's found a bright spot in one of its swimmers.
Freshman Kayla Ferguson was the Belles' top finisher in the freestyle sprint events against Hope. Ferguson finished fourth at 27.30 in the 50-yard free and second in the 100-yard event with a time of 59.32. Ferguson's time in the 50 free was 0.7 seconds slower than Tighe's team-low for the 2005-06 season, and her 100-yard time was just .31 seconds off Tighe's team-best time in that event last season.
