Terre Haute, Ind. – The Transylvania swimming and diving made a historic splash at the 2022 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships held at the Vigo County Aquatic Center on Thursday through Saturday evening.
The three-day conference championship event, hosted by conference member Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, saw both Pioneer teams place top three with the Transylvania women's swimming and diving team finishing as the runner-up with a total of 516.5 points. The Transylvania men's swimming and diving team established their presence on the conference's brightest stage, finishing in third for the second straight year and the second time overall in program history with 477 points.
The teams produced a combined score of 993.5 to take third place after Franklin and Rose-Hulman, capping off another significant year for the program.
The Pioneers shattered a plethora of records over the three day championships and fielded four individual championships; the week entailed a dynamic showing by newcomer JJ Holmes, who brought home three championships for the Pioneers in sprint races.
Holmes quickly asserted his spot in the conference as the premier sprinter, winning the championships in the men's 50 freestyle in 20.42 seconds, the men's 100 breaststroke in 55.33 seconds, and the men's 100 freestyle in 44.79 seconds. All three times now stand as school records in each respective event, punctuating a brief and virtuoso year for Holmes. Holmes was named HCAC Men's Swimmer of the Meet as the standout individual performer.
Mackie Redford brought home another championship in the women's 3-meter dive on Thursday. After winning the title as a freshman, Redford repeated as the champion on Thursday, scoring a school record 435.25 points to claim the HCAC crown. The sophomore added a third-place showing in the women's 1-meter dive with a total of 394.35 points.
Other records broken on the opening day of championship races were by the quartet of Sami Monarch, Logan Thomas, Hannah Tapp, and Mary Grace Thompson in the women's 200 freestyle relay, finishing in 1:37.94 to take runner-up status in the finals.
Connor Hood reeled off a new school record in the men's 500 freestyle with a time of 4:46.48, good for a fifth-place finish in the championship event.
In the ensuing day of action, the foursome of Hood, Holmes, Devon Parker, and Jacob Young rewrote the Pioneer record books in the men's 200 medley relay, touching the wall in 1:36.09.
The Pioneers wrote another record in the women's 400 freestyle relay: Monarch, Thomas, Tapp, and Thompson again conspired to etch a time of 3:37.37 for a runner-up finish.
Monarch added another trio of runner-up finishes in the women's 50 freestyle finals, finishing in 24.41 in a photo finish, a 59.90 second time in the women's 100 backstroke, and a 53.22 second time in the women's 100 freestyle. Garrett Craycraft took a second-place showing in the men's 3-meter dive, tallying 351.75 points for runner-up honors. The sophomore added an additional third-place finish in the men's 1-meter dive with 386.30 points.
The team of Delaney McPherson, Olivia Greinke, Monarch, and Tapp delivered a runner-up time of 4:06.73 in the women's 400 medley relay, while Tapp took second in the women's 200 freestyle championships (1:59.59). McPherson, Tapp, Greinke and Rachel Foster racked up more points with a second-place showing in the women's 800 freestyle relay (8:23.60).
The Pioneers continued to position their program as a rising contender in the conference; the women took second overall while the men took third in the first conference swimming and diving championship format to feature seven teams from the HCAC.
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