GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Salem swim team earned seven Top-3 finishes at a meet held at Greensboro College's Reynolds Family Student Life Center Pool on Saturday, Jan. 18. The Spirits earned a 61-25 victory over the host Pride and fell by a 96-43 margin to Guilford at the meet.
Junior Olivia Kleven was responsible for two of Salem's Top-3 performances, finishing first in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke, while Allison Wakefield was first in the 500 freestyle. Wakefield also laid claim to third in the 200 freestyle and teammate Corrin Shores brought home third in both the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle events.
Salem posted a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay as the combination of Shores, Kleven, Rachel Black and Amy Stutzer notched a time of 2:30.50. They became the fifth unit in Salem swimming history to post a time of 2:30 or better, narrowly missing the fourth-best time in program history, which came on Feb. 2, 2010 by the team of Bethany Eaton, Hope Kerr-Read, Paige Martin and Laura Phillips (2:27.87).
Kleven's mark of 2:36.77 in the 200 individual medley fell just shy of the program mark in the event, which was established by Rachel Fichthorn on Dec. 1, 2007 at the Randolph College Invitational, when she streaked down the pool in a time of 2:35.02.
Kleven added her eighth first-place performance of the 2019-20 season in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:19.06 on Saturday afternoon. That victory allowed Kleven to move past Paige Martin's career mark for most wins by a Spirit. Martin had six wins between the 2009-10 campaign.
Wakefield put together her second first-place finish this season in the 500 freestyle, posting a mark of 7:20.20. Wakefield had the seventh-best time in the 500 freestyle event in program history, besting a mark since Jessica Williams on Feb. 5, 2008 in a dual that featured Agnes Scott, Greensboro and Sweet Briar. Wakefield also put together a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle event, touching the wall in 30.74.
Shores put together a third-place performance in the 50 freestyle, wrapping up the race in 30.74. She finished ahead of teammates Rachel Black (35.32) and Stutzer (37.15), who finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Shores enjoyed a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle, posting a mark of 1:11.82.
Emily Inman narrowly missed the Top-3 in the 500 freestyle after a time of 8:35.97, while placing fifth in the 200 freestyle (3:01.93).
Black was also responsible for a fourth-place outing in the 100 backstroke (1:37.58) and Stutzer rounded out the Salem performances with a sixth-place performance in the 100 breaststroke with a mark of 1:49.96.
Salem swimming concludes its 2019-20 regular season when it heads to Meisenheimer, N.C., to clash with Pfeiffer on Feb. 1. For more information on Salem swimming check out www.salemspirits.com.
