January 10, 2009
Results

WAUKESHA, Wis. - Ripon's first meet of 2009 ended in spectacular fashion, with the women and men combining to defeat five of their six opponents. The Red Hawk women defeated Beloit, 62-31, and College of DuPage, 72-39, while losing to the host Carroll Pioneers 72-23. The men's team swept their three opponents, defeating Beloit, Carroll and College of DuPage by a combined score of 209-68.

The Ripon men had four first-place finishes, which included Parker Heaps winning both the 1000 freestyle (10:48.93) and 500 freestyle (5:11.71). In addition to Heaps, Ripon's Bill Rodgers and Brandon Taylor also took home first-place finishes. Rodgers swam a time of 1:03.37 to win the 100 backstroke, followed by fellow Red Hawk Zach Smith's time of 1:04.82 for second place in that event. Taylor won the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:03.27 in an event that was dominated by Ripon. Smith also took second in that event with a time of 2:05.92, while Matt Stensberg was nearly one second off that pace, in third place. Grant Erickson also had some success, with a second place finish in the 100 butterfly. His time of 1:00.56 was followed closely by Taylor and Stensberg, in third and fourth place, respectively. Smith and Erickson also teamed up with Lucas Ebert and C.J. Marx to win the 400 yard medley, while Taylor, Ebert, Rodgers and Heaps took first in the 400 freestyle relay.

The women's team also had an impressive day, with Megan Rice giving Ripon their lone individual first-place finish with a 50 yard freestyle time of 27.09. The Red Hawks had several individuals place second, including Jessica Powell in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:11.81, which was just .03 seconds behind the winner of the event. Katie Corbett and Amy Jones also took second in the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke, respectively. Jones' breaststroke time was followed closely by Jenni Schalla, who finished third in the event. The Red Hawk women also took second in two relay competitions. Corbett, Schalla, Jones and Rice worked together in the 400 medley, while Rice, Corbett and Jones teamed up with Shannon Colburn in the 400 freestyle.

The Red Hawks will be in action again next weekend, as they'll travel to Beloit College on Friday. That meet is set to begin at 6 p.m.