WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – After nearly a month-long break from action, the Salem swimming team returns to competition this weekend when it heads to Greensboro for clash with The Pride and Virginia Wesleyan at the Royce Reynolds Pool at 1 p.m. on the Greensboro campus.
Salem heads into the meet with a 78-19 victory over Greensboro on Oct. 26, which also took place at the Royce Reynolds Pool.
Through the first five meets of the season, Salem has garnered 22 top-3 finishes, including seven first place outings. Junior Olivia Kleven is responsible for five of those first place finishes, including three in the breaststroke, one in the 100 individual medley and one in the 200 individual medley. Teammate Allison Wakefield has come through with a first place finish in the 400 freestyle, while the combination of Kleven, Corrin Shores, Ashleigh Nelson and Amy Stutzer brought home the 200 freestyle relay title at the Greensboro College Dual in October.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE SPIRITS (Guilford / Sweet Briar Dual, Nov. 16): The Salem swim team wrapped up its fifth meet of the season with five Top-3 performances in a dual against Guilford and Sweet Briar at the Greensboro Aquatic Center on Friday evening.
Among the top finishers at the event included Kleven, who tapped the wall first in the 200 individual medley and established her personal-best time (2:37.09) in the process. Kleven claimed her second win of the evening in the 100 breaststroke, posting a time of 1:17:19, marking her third first-place finish in the event this season.
The Spirits unit of Shores, Rachel Black, Kleven and Stutzer came through with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay, capping off the race in 2:32.73. Meanwhile, the combination of Wakefield, Emily Inman, Kristen Kellogg and JaLisa Lumpkin put together a third-place outing in the 200 freestyle, posting a time of 2:51.42.
Shores, who crossed the line third in the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:37.34, posted her third Top-3 outing of the season since joining the team two weeks ago. She was also fifth in the 100 butterfly, following a time of 1:33.93, her first time competing in the event.
Black, taking part in her first meet for the Spirits, was fifth in the 50 freestyle with a mark of 34.70. She also competed in the 100 backstroke, tapping the wall in 1:46.69, where she posted the sixth-best time.
Stutzer was one of four Spirits competing in the 100 freestyle, closing sixth following a mark of 1:25.00. She was followed by Lumpkin (1:51.84, 7th), who came through with her second-best time in the event, as well as Kellogg, who was eighth-place at a time of 1:52.93. Jennifer Allen, competing in her first meet for the Spirits, capped off the 100 freestyle in a time of 1:53.84.
Inman and Wakefield joined Shores among Spirits taking part in the 200 freestyle, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. Inman posted a time of 2:53.68, while Wakefield tapped the wall in 2:58.84.
Stutzer was 40 seconds off the pace established by Kleven in the 100 breaststroke, closing ninth in a time of 1:57.24. The trio of Lumpkin, Allen and Kellogg also took part in the 50 freestyle event. Lumpkin was 11th with a time of 44.88, which is a personal-best in the event, while Allen and Kellogg finished with times of 47.68 and 48.44, respectively.
For more information on Salem swimming check out www.salemspirits.com.