Over the weekend, the Kenyon women’s swimming and diving teams traveled to Annapolis, Maryland, to compete in a quad meet against three Division I schools including the host, the United States Naval Academy (Md.), as well as Princeton University (N.J.) and the University of Delaware. While the Owls fell to all three opponents, they recorded a series of impressive times in preparation for their postseason.

On Friday, Kenyon kicked things off with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the foursome of Lisa Torrecillas-Jouault ’26, Gwen Eisenbeis ’26, Julia Mascarenhas ’29 and Kate Bogan ’27 coming in at 1:33.17. Then, in the 200-yard freestyle, Molly Haag ’26 took bronze, finishing in 1:49.79, less than a second behind the winner. Eisenbeis built on her strong start later in the day by claiming silver in the 100-yard backstroke (54.79).

The Owls saw their first victory of the day from Kelsey Van Eldik ’27, whose time of 1:00.76 in the 100-yard breaststroke gave her the top spot on the podium. Haag then continued her freestyle success in the 1,000-yard event, earning second place for her efforts (9:58.12). Kenyon’s medley team of Eisenbeis, Van Eldik, Nora Kortuem ’29 and Torrecillas-Jouault swam to a third-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay, finishing just over a second behind the second-place Delaware team.

Similarly to Friday, the Owls began the Saturday events on a high note, with Eisenbeis, Van Eldik, Kortuem and Bogan earning silver in the 200-yard medley relay (1:41.42). Van Eldik’s extraordinary weekend was not yet complete, as she finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:15.48. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Afsana Rawlins ’29, Haag, Bogan and Torrecillas-Jouault fought to the very end to earn third place just two-tenths of a second ahead of a Princeton foursome in the final event of the meet.

Following the weekend, Bogan was proud of the team’s success. In an email to the Collegian, she wrote, “We were up against some stiff competition given that all of our competitors were [D-I] schools, but I really think that we held our own against them, especially on the relays.”

Torrecillas-Jouault added to Bogan’s sentiments in an email to the Collegian. “I am very happy with how the team did at Navy,” she wrote. “This meet came after two weeks of intense training in Sarasota and a two-day bus ride, and still being able to show up and perform at this level is very impressive. Even while swimming against three [D-I] teams, we were able to be very competitive, placing first, second, or third in almost every event.”

After the two days of elite competition, the Owls will be back in action again on Jan. 23 for a home meet against Case Western Reserve University, whom Kenyon narrowly fell to last season. Going forward, Torrecillas-Jouault is optimistic about the Owls’ season. “This year’s team is very special to me, and I also believe it is one of the most mentally tough teams I have been a part of at Kenyon,” she wrote. “We all work extremely hard and support each other daily, which creates a vibrant and energetic environment. Being there for one another and pushing each other to our fullest potential is something that we have done beautifully all season, and I hope we will continue to build on that.”