By Jim Naprstek, Assistant Sports Information Director

The Loras Men's and Women's Swimming team continued their 2012 season on Saturday at the Monmouth Invite. After opening their year with convincing victories over Coe College, Loras was ready to showcase some of their young talent that appears to be ready to perform at the collegiate level.

The dynamic duo of freshmen Heather Black and Elise Amo finished 3^rd and 4^th in the Women's 200 yard Freestyle with times of 2:07.70 and 2:09.60 respectively. Black also placed 3^rd in the Women's 400 yard Backstroke, with a time of 5:15.96, good enough for 4^th place. Junior Marguerite DelVecchio made her season debut, placing 3^rd in the Women's 100 yard Backstroke with a time of 1:07.92.

Senior Gabby Gaulke placed 3^rd in the Women's 200 yard Butterfly, swimming the race in 2:28.50. Junior Lexie Mollahan finished the Women's 200 yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:24.70 and in 3^rd place. Junior Katie Callaghan finished 3^rd in the Women's 100 yard Butterfly with a time of 1:05.61.

All in all, the finishes by the Women's Swimming team led them to a third place finish behind Lake Forest College and the host Monmouth College.

Matt Bogen swam the Men's 500 yard freestyle, placing 2^nd with a time of 5:08.41, less than four seconds off the leader. Freshman Zack Benson continued his early season success with a 3^rd place finish in the Men's 200 yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:08.21. John Maevski, a freshman from Elk Grove Village, Illinois, placed second in the diving competition, finishing with 232.90 points, less than four points behind the event winner.

Due to the consistent men's performance, they finished in 2^nd place as a team with 211 points.

Loras will return to San Jose Pool this Friday to host the Simpson College Storm at 6:00pm.