Swimming: Historic night for Pioneer as team sets three records in win over Chelsea  

It’s that time of year where the Pioneer swimming and diving team switches gears and starts gearing up for the home stretch. And when that time begins to rise, records begin to fall.

Case in point was Thursday night as Pioneer cruised past visiting Chelsea 149-37 in an SEC crossover dual-meet. The Pioneers set two Hill Pool records and Lily Cramer set a Hill Pool record and Pioneer varsity record in the 100 breaststroke.

Let’s start in the record books. And let’s start with Cramer.

The senior finished eighth at last year’s Division 1 State Finals in the breaststroke with a time of 1 minute, 05.53. On Thursday, she broke the Hill Pool record and the Pioneer varsity record with her time of 1:02.16 – a time that would have placed her second at last year’s state meet.

The other Pioneer records came in the freestyle relays.

The 200-free relay team of Cramer, sophomore Stella Chapman, junior Sophia Guo and senior Vivian VanRenterghem took first with a Hill Pool record time of 1:35.33. For a little fun comparison, Pioneer won the 200 free relay at last year’s state finals with four swimmers all back this season in a time of 1:36.53. And in case you wondering, the D-1 State Finals meet record is 1:33.34.

The other Hill Pool record came in the 400 free relay. The team of VanRenterghem, Guo, Chapman and Cramer touched first in 3:26.18. At last year’s State Finals, the same four (except Amelia Weyhing for Guo) went a winning time of 3:29.97. The state finals D-1 record is 3:23.15 – in case you were wondering.

So more than three weeks before the State Finals, two Pioneer relay teams have already beat their times in relays they WON last year. Yeah, pretty amazing!

OK, back to the top.

The Pioneer medley relay team of Holly Pringle, Edwina Jalet, Guo and Yan Yee Adler took first in 1:50.39. Pioneer’s other relay team of Autumn Bullinger, Amelia Weyhing, Lindsay Orringer-Hau and Reese Heidenreich was a super duper close second in 1:50.74.

Chapman won the 200 free in 1:55.51 with Meg Pinkerton second (2:07.89) and Allison Yadmark third (2:11.54).

Heidenreich won the 200 IM in 2:17.88 with Bridgette Kamara second (2:21.85) and Adler third (2:25.09).

And talk about a close race to the wall – Pringle sprinted to a win in the 50 free with a time of 24.10 with Cramer a touch behind in 24.12. VanRenterghem was a “distant” third in 24.52. Amelia Weyhing was fourth (24.81) and Jalet fifth (25.08).

Pioneer’s Alexandra Mercier won the diving with 228 points. Grace Daly was third (190.90).

Chapman won the butterfly in 56.54 with Rachel Brewbaker second (1:05.01) and Yadmark third (1:05.24).

In the 100 free, Pringle was first (52.20) followed by Bullinger (54.67), Adler (56.05) and Eva Woods (57.85).

Jalet won the 500 free in 5:14.30 with Peren Boduch second (5:54.48), Piper Campbell third (5:54.53) and Maisie Weyhing fourth (5:58.22).

In the backstroke, Bullinger touched first in 59.76. Heidenreich was second (1:06.00), Kate Lindstrom was third (1:06.48) and Madeline Baybeck was fourth (1:07.91).

Pioneer will swim on Saturday, Nov. 5-6 at the SEC Invitational hosted by Skyline.