Lake Forest Women Place Third, Men Fifth at MWC Championships
Mike Mackin wins 100-butterfly, posts three top-three finishes

Michael Mackin

Emily Watts

Whitney Hales

The first event to be completed on Friday was 1-meter diving, where freshman Jade Perkins (Denver, Colo./JK Mullen) placed fourth with 339.60 points.

The Forester women's 200-freestyle relay team began Friday's finals with a runner-up finish by just 0.12 seconds. Freshmen Emily Watts (Danville, Ind./Danville Community) and Claire Perrott (Northfield, Minn./Colegio San Isidro de Heredia), senior Jenna Sasanfar (Tonka Bay, Minn./Minnetonka), and sophomore Whitney Hales (New Iberia, La./Episcopal School of Acadinda) finished with a time of 1:41.83. On the men's side sophomore Michael Mackin (Berwyn, Ill./Fenwick), junior Taylor Wright (Williams, Calif./Williams), and freshmen Alex Tran (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) and Raul Ardelean (Arad, Romania/Col. Nat. "Moise Nicoara") placed sixth in 1:34.67.

Perrott then place sixth (5:28.71) and sophomore Lisa Carpenter (Edina, Minn./Edina) ninth (5:33.59) in the 500-freestyle.

The only Forester to score points in the 200-individual medley was sophomore Jaden Harkless (Riverside, Calif./Notre Dame), who placed 16th in 2:39.37.

Lake Forest's second near-miss at a victory came in the 50-freestyle where Watts' runner-up finals time of 25.32 seconds was 0.46 seconds behind the winner. Both swimmers posted a time of 25.16 in the prelims, making Watts the fourth-fastest in team history in that event. Hales finished fifth in 25.94 and junior Natalie Elsassser (Woodburg, Minn./Stillwater Area) was 16th in 27.01. Wright was also the runner-up by just 0.15 seconds in the men's 50-freestlye with a time of 22.11.

Harkless, Elsasser, Carpenter, and Sasanfar placed eighth in the women's 400-medley relay (4:29.60). The Forester men - Mackin, junior Derek Atchley (Monroe, Mich./Monroe), senior David Esturain (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick), and Wright - finished fourth in 3:50.51.

The Forester women ranked fourth and the men sixth after Friday's events.

Perkins also finished fourth in Saturday's 3-meter diving competition with 343.95 points.

Sasanfar, Hales, Perrott, and Watts started Saturday's finals with a fourth-place finish in the women's 200-medley relay (1:56.94). The same four Forester men that swam Friday's 400-medley relay placed fifth in Saturday's 200 with a time of 1:44.24.

Carpenter placed sixth (5:11.02) and junior Ashley DeBo (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) 13th (5:38.90) in the 400-individual medley. Atchley was the only Forester male in the event and placed eighth in 4:46.24.

Mackin then posted Lake Forest's only victory of the weekend when he touched the wall first in the 100-butterfly with a time of 53.41 seconds. He now ranks among the top five in team history in that event. Esturain finished 15th in 1:03.14.

Perrott and Hales qualified for the finals of the women's 200-freestyle where they placed third (2:00 .45) and fifth (2:04.15), respectively. Wright finished 14th in the men's race with a time of 1:52.51.

Watts posted a ninth-place finish in the women's 100-breaststroke in 1:13.10 and Elsasser was 11th in 1:19.32. On the men's side Atchley was 10th in 1:03.89, Tran finished 15th in 1:14.90, and freshman Kuan Chen (Nanjing, China/Nanjing Foreign Language School) placed 18th in 1:18.09.

Sasanfar placed fourth in the women's 100-backstroke in 1:04.69. It was her fourth career top-six finish at the conference meet in that event. Mackin was the runner-up by 0.63 seconds in the men's race. His time of 52.76 seconds is an NCAA B qualifying mark and slightly better than his time from last season, which ranked third in program history. Esturain and Ardelean finished 14th (1:02.93) and 16th (1:05.24), respectively.

The Forester women's 800-freestyle relay team of Perrott, Carpenter, Watts, and Hales posted another runner-up finish in 8:16.74. Esturain, Tran, Ardelean, and junior David Ristau (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) placed fifth in 8:35.

Lake Forest's women finished Saturday in third place and the men in fifth, the same spots they would eventually occupy at the end of the meet.

Sunday's finals began with the women's 1,650-freestyle where Carpenter finished second in 18:51.47. DeBo was 12th in 21:03.22 and junior Nicole Larson (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa West) placed 14th in 21:28.50. Ristau was 13th in the men's mile in 21:24.88.

Sasanfar finished seventh in the women's 200-backstroke in 2:20.24 and Harkless was 14th in 2:28.71. Esturain placed 12th (2:20.46) and Ardelean 14th (2:24.79) in the men's race.

Three Lake Forest women reached the finals of the 100-freestyle. Watts finished second in 55.25 seconds, Hales fourth in 56.43, and Perrott fifth in 55.62. Sasanfar and Elsasser were 14th (58.01) and 15th (59.15), respectively. Watts' time was good for fourth in program history. Mackin was third on the men's side in 49.14 seconds. Wright finished 10th in 49.97.

Larson was the Forester's only woman in the 200-breaststroke. She placed 18th in 3:00.66. Atchley finished eighth on the men's side in 2:20.36. Tran was 13th (2:46.92) and Ristau 15th (2:57.63).

The final event of the weekend was the 400-freestyle relay. Watts, Perrott, Sasanfar, and Hales placed third for the women in 3:44.78. Wright, Mackin, Ardelean, and Atchley were sixth on the men's side in 3:29.18.

The Forester women's third-place finish as a team was their best in three years.