By Hunter Chovanec, Sports Information Student Assistant
Alma, Mich. - The Alma College swim and dive teams hosted the Kalamazoo College Hornets in the final home meet of the year on Saturday (Feb. 8) at the McClure Natatorium. The Scots honored their four-member senior class during the meet, consisting of Sydney Louis-Ferdinand (Southfield, Mich. / Birmingham Groves), Cole Malhoit (Canton, Mich. / Canton), Nathan Wilburn (Pinckney, Mich. / Pinckney Community) and Emily Kayden (Midland, Mich. / Bay City Western).
The Hornets defeated the Scots on both the men's and women's sides. The men were beaten by a final of 128-67, while the women fell in a close meet 114-102.
"I thought we competed well today, especially on the women's side," said Head Coach Jason Lintjer. "It was a great meet overall for the team. We've made big strides in the last couple of years to be more competitive in the MIAA and that certainly showed today."
Louis-Ferdinand earned a victory in her final home meet, taking the women's 500-yard free event with a time of 5:48.11. She also joined sophomores Michaela Collins (Lake Orion, Mich. / Lake Orion), Kathleen Christnagel (Grosse Ile, Mich. / Grosse Ile), and Allie Dilts (Belleville, Mich. / Belleville) to win the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Malhoit and Wilburn finished third and fourth in the 100-yard fly event in their final home meet as Scots.
Kayden placed fourth in the 100 fly with a time of 1:09.72. She also finished the 100-yard backstroke in 1:15.95.
Freshman Emily Diener won the 100-yard fly event with a time of 1:04.04. Diener also finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke event while sophomore Jennifer Ostrowski (Northville, Mich. / Northville) won the event with a time of 1:11.86.
Freshman Andrew Smith (Milan, Mich. / Milan) won the men's 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05.99.
The Scots will be off until Wednesday (Feb. 19) when they travel to Calvin University for the MIAA Championship meet. Competition will begin at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday and will run through Saturday (Feb. 22) night.
