The Laker Swimmers had many impressive individual performances at Saturday's Morningside's Invitational.  "Our small team has a difficult time keeping up in the team scores when we go up against teams of 20 or more members.  We consistently placed our swimmers in the top eight in most events and almost took a couple of wins." Noted Head Coach Todd Peters.  The men finished in fifth place of six teams, but freshman Jacob Bohnert and Sophomore Gabriel Carmona were both two of the top performing men at the meet.  Bohnert was fourth in the 200 and 500 freestyles and fifth in the 100 free while Carmona was fourth in the 200 breaststroke, fifth in the 200IM, and sixth in the 100 breaststroke.  All their event placings were significant improvements on their seeding going into the meet.  Juan Briseno had impressive performances in the 100 and 200 butterfly events, with the 100 event being a huge improvement from his last race and 200 was the first time he raced that event.  Garrett Nielson had big improvements in the 100 free and butterfly events.  "The men all had a great meet.  Gabriel brings such great energy to the meet.  He lifts the entire team as he runs up and down the pool side during every race cheering everyone on.  His positivity and hard work every day resulted in large time drops in all three of his events. 

The Laker women also had a remarkable meet finishing eighth of nine teams. Juliana Villa nearly won three events but took home two seconds and a third.  Her time of 26.20 in the 50 free was just 0.18 from first place as she finished in third.  Juliana was second in the 100 free with a 56.26 and the 100 back with a season-best 1:01.68.  Gabriela Reis had strong races in the 400 IM where she finished third, the 200 breaststroke where she was ninth and the 100 breaststroke where she finished eleventh.   Liz Crew-Brown picked up a sixth place finish in the 200 backstroke and an eighth place in the 100 back. 

Coach Peters summed up the meet this way: "This was our first meet with some of the longer events like the 400 IM and 200's of backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly.  It was really a matter of getting racing experience and putting into play many of the technique skills we have been practicing for weeks.  We proved our team can maintain high energy throughout a five-hour meet and perform well in all areas.  We are really excited to make some improvements next week at the Luther Invite and then rest and swim fast at the Rochester invite in three weeks."