Men Third, Women Sixth, Rezac Diver of the Year at MWC Championships
Maggie Rezac, Michael Ojdana, and Michal Mackin win two individual events apiece

Maggie Rezac

Michael Ojdana

Michael Mackin

Nick Primrose

Stephen Crabbe

Lisa Carpenter

Whitney Hales

The first event completed was the women’s 1-meter diving and Lake Forest senior Maggie Rezac’s (Omaha, Neb./Marian) pool record 469.90 points were nearly 100 more than the second-place finisher.

Friday’s finals began with the 200-freestyle relay and the Forester men touched the wall first with a time of 1:27.73. Senior Nick Primrose (Mayfield, Ohio/Mayfield) led off, followed by freshman Michael Mackin (Berwyn, Ill./Fenwick) and seniors Stephen Crabbe (Tucson, Ariz./University) and Michael Ojdana (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier).

Freshman Lisa Carpenter (Edina, Minn./Edina) then placed third in the 500-freestyle with a time of 5:28.50 and Ojdana was the runner-up on the men’s side in 4:46.73.

Senior R.J. DeBo (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) was the team’s top finisher in the 200-individual medley. He placed ninth with a time of 2:13.09.

Freshman Whitney Hales (New Iberia, La./Episcopal School of Acadinda), the Forester women’s team’s fastest sprinter, placed fifth in the 50-freestyle in 26.31. Primrose finished second on the men’s side in 22.28 seconds and sophomore Taylor Wright (Williams, Calif./Williams) was seventh in 22.82.

Friday’s finale was the 400-medley relay, which saw Lake Forest’s women place fourth and the men fifth.

Rezac clinched her third career MWC Diver of the Year award on Saturday with a winning performance off the 3-meter diving board. Her 466.65 points in the event were nearly 125 more than the runner-up.

Lake Forest’s women began Saturday’s finals with a fifth-place finish in the 200-medley relay and the men followed in third place.

Sophomore Derek Atchley (Monroe, Mich./Monroe) was the team’s only entrant in the 400-individual medley and he finished 12th in 4:59.90.

Sophomore Ashley DeBo (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) took home 15th place in the 100-butterfly with a time of 1:14.38. On the men’s side, Mackin was third in 53.75 seconds and R.J. DeBo eighth in 57.65.

Five Foresters placed in the 200-freestyle. Hales was seventh in 2:05.47 and Carpenter eighth just 1.1 seconds behind her. Ojdana won the conference championship in the event for the third time in his career with a time of 1:45.27, Crabbe was fourth in 1:49.26, and Wright finished 13th in 1:55.21.

Sophomore Nicki Larson (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa West) was 14th in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 1:23.21. Atchley finished one place better on the men’s side in 1:04.61.

Junior Jenna Sasanfar (Tonka Bay, Minn./Minnetonka) reached the finals and placed sixth in the 100-backstroke with a time of 1:05.77. Mackin claimed his first career conference title in an individual event with a time of 53.25 seconds and Primrose placed fifth in 1:00.36. R.J. DeBo was 10th in 1:01.45, junior Randy McGregor (Orlando, Fla./The Gunnery) 11th in 1:01.97, and classmate David Esturain (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick) 17th in 1:10.68.

The Forester women’s team’s top relay performance came in the 800-freestyle where Carpenter, Sasanfar, Ashley DeBo, and Hales placed third in 8:43.09. In order, Mackin, Crabbe, Primrose, and Ojdana claimed their second relay title of the competition with a time of 7:09.20.

Sunday’s finals started with the grueling 1650-freestyle and Carpenter placed third in 18 minutes and 48.83 seconds. Larson also scored points for the women with a 16th-place time of 21:15.40. Sophomores Justin Stenger (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) and David Ristau (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) were 16th and 18th, respectively, on the men’s side with times of 20:09.14 and 22:36.55.

Sasanfar recorded her second sixth-place finish in a backstroke event with a time of 2:21.02 in the 200. Freshman Jaden Harkless (Riverside, Calif./Notre Dame) took home 17th place in the event with a time of 2:36.19. Mackin completed a sweep of the stroke’s two races by winning the 200 in 1:57.03.

Sasanfar was back in the pool for the next event, the 100-freestyle, and placed 11th in 1:00.29. Ojdana claimed his seventh career conference title but first in the 100-freestyle with a time of 48.61 seconds. Primrose was seventh in 49.92 and Crabbe and Wright tied for 10th in 50.62.

Atchley was the only swimmer on the team to place in the 200-breaststroke. He was 10th in 2:24.73.

The same can be said for junior Giorgio Ferrero (Rome, Italy/American Overseas School of Rome) in the 200-butterfly, where he finished 14th with a time of 2:41.71.

The final event of the meet was the 400-freestyle relay and the Forester women placed fifth. For the third time on the weekend, Primrose, Mackin, Crabbe, and Ojdana combined for a freestyle relay title by completing the race in 3:14.85.

The top-three finish in the team standings for the Lake Forest men was the program’s 25th in a row.

Select Foresters will swim in the Midwest Invite at Wheaton College next weekend (February 22-23). At this time Rezac is the only member of the team who has qualified for next month’s NCAA Division III Championship Meets.