Athletes of the Meet - Liberty Conference Championships

This week's conference championships featured so many personal-best swims and performances that it is impossible to name an athlete of the meet. It is the combined performances of our team that made the difference in this meet. That is why the coaching staff has decided to name the entire team as athletes of the meet for this week.

There are several athletes, though, that deserve some special recognition for their achievements this weekend:

• Greg Duncan -- Greg set a personal-best score in the dive competion Thursday night with a score of 594.10. His performance was the second-best score in Madison history. And Greg is now setting his sights on eclipsing Grayson Campbell's record set at last year's state competition. Greg's performance easily qualified him for All-American consideration where he will be in the running for national diver of the year.
• Anna Keating -- Anna took her first Liberty Conference Championship by storm by setting two new school and conference records. Her times of 2:03.51 in the 200 IM and 1:02.16 in the 100 breaststroke broke the previous records by nearly two seconds each! She also earned automatic All-American status in the breast and All-American consideration for her 200 IM.
• Madeline LaPorte -- Madeline set two new school records as well this weekend. Her times of 1:49.98 in the 200 free (set during preliminaries) and 56.12 in the 100 butterfly broke her own records. Her 200 freestyle also earned All-American consideration status and established a new personal-best for her.
• Elizabeth Kuhlkin -- Elizabeth also asserted herself as a force in the Liberty Conference and North Region with breakout swims in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle. Elizabeth broke the previous 100 freestyle record, which was set in 2002 by Allison Cameron, in a time of 51.87. She also finished a strong third in the 50 freestyle.
• Cole Dyson -- Cole continued to improve his personal-best times in the 200 and 500 freestyle events throughout the weekend. His splits in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays were also impressive and helped both relays be successful.
• Patrick Kuhlkin -- Patrick had a breakout weekend as well with his times in the 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle. He earned his first career state cut with his time in the 200. He is also just off of the state cut in the 100, which he hopes to meet at next week's region meet.
• Anna Sullivan -- Anna made her first careet state cut as well by posting a personal-best time of 5:11.80 in the 500 freestyle. She also broke the one-minute mark in her 100 backtroke for the first time in her career. Anna provides some important depth as the team moves to regions and states.
• Women's 200 medley relay -- The team consisting of Rachael Holp, Anna Keating, Elizabeth Kuhlkin and Anna Miller not only set the conference and school record, but they also earned All-American consideration status. Their time of 1:46.09 broke the previous school record by nearly three seconds!
• Women's 400 freestyle relay -- The team consisting of Madeline LaPorte, Elizabeth Kuhlkin, Julia Downing and Rachael Holp set a new team and conference record with a time of 3:30.01. Not only that but the team earned All-American consideration status with that swim.
• Men's 400 freestyle relay -- The team consisting of Abraham Zimmerman, Cole Dyson, Jack Galbraith, and Patrick Kuhlkin set a new conference record with a time of 3:09.78. The team just missed All-American status but will look to improve their time and meet that standard next week at regions.