BY JACOB STOUT
Lions’ Pride Sports Writer

Courtesy of Mike Carlson

Erin Hotchkiss.

Saint Leo men’s and women’s swim teams both swept the visiting Rattlers of Florida A&M University on Saturday November 14 in Saint Leo, Florida. The Lions won every one of the 20 events, scoring a total of 94 points to the Rattlers 32 points.

Juniors Alisha Adams, Jessica Pall, Alicia Thompson, and freshman Sarah Earls got things started for the women’s team by taking first in the 400 yard medley relay with a time of 4:24.23. This time was more than four seconds faster than their teammates in second place, sophomores Alison Cary and Mary Strand, along with junior Mindy Pierce and senior Erin Hotchkiss who finished ahead of A&M in a time of 4:28.71

In the third event of the day, the 200 yard freestyle, Pall got her first of two individual wins in the meet by narrowly beating teammate Alicia Thompson with a time of 2:06.44. With a time of 59.11, Pall also took first in the 100 yard freestyle beating out junior teammate, Liz Casey, by just over two seconds.

Junior Melinda Pierce matched Pall with two of her own victories in the meet. Pierce took first in the 400 yard IM (Individual Medley) with a time of 5:02.13 which was 6.3 seconds faster than teammate Alisha Adams who finished in second place. Pierce also finished first in the 500 yard freestyle beating senior teammate Erin Lucas and sophomore Jasmine Leslie of Florida A&M.

Adams, Earls, Hotchkiss, and Lucas also had individual wins while Cary had a strong showing in the 400 yard freestyle relay helping her team to another relay victory to close out the day for the women.
On the men’s side, the Lions started just as strong as the women taking the first event, the 400 yard medley relay. Juniors Thomas Rey and Tim Olson, along with freshman Brian Knudson and senior Kyle Gramm finished in a time of 3:54.89, more than ten seconds ahead of their teammates in second place.
The men’s team had three swimmers win two events each. Freshman Eric Singer took first in the 200 yard and 500 yard freestyle races with times of 1:56.36 and 5:22.67 respectively. Senior Brian Kiessling took the honors in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 24.01 and in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 2:14.99. Junior Tim Olson finished first in the 400 yard IM with a time of 4:18.75 and the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 2:07.13.

Olson’s performance in the 400 yard IM was good enough to break the school record. Olson’s teammate, junior Matt Attal, held the previous record at 4:28.18 which was set in 2008.

Junior Derek Maddigan and senior Kyle Gramm also came up with first place finishes for the Lions in the 200 yard breaststroke and the 100 yard freestyle. The Lions rounded out the meet with a convincing win in the final event of the day, the 400 yard freestyle relay. Gramm, Knudson, Rey and freshman Dylan Walters took first place with a time of 3:33.51.

Saint Leo competed at the Sarasota YMCA Tom Herrington Invitational on November 20-22. On the women’s side, Erin Hotchkiss won both the 100 and 200 fly while Alisha Adams placed 2nd in the 50, 100, and 200 back. Teammate Alicia Thompson also had a good meet placing in the top three spots in the 50, 100, and 200 free and the 50 fly. The men’s team took a number of first places starting with Kyle Gramm winning the 100 free, following with Derek Maddigan taking the 50, 100, and 200 breast, concluding with Timothy Olson capturing the 200 fly and 200 back.

The Lions will continue training until their next meet, which they will play host to Pfeiffer University on New Year’s Day.