Snaps W&L's 13-Meet Winning Streak

RADFORD, Va. --- It had not happened in over a decade, but there was a changing of the guard at the top of the podium at the Old Dominion Athletic Conference/Atlantic States Swimming Championships last week.  Randolph-Macon College came back from a 10-point deficit following the second day of action to defeat Washington & Lee University and claim its first ODAC swimming title.

Washington & Lee had won the previous 13 consecutive conference crowns, with the last non-General championship going to Hollins University in 1993.  They fell just six points short of making it a fortnight's worth of victories.

Strong performances by Shafer Busch, Hallie Stewart and ODAC Rookie of the Year, Marlene Graf, helped the Yellow Jackets to six individual event victories and two relay wins.  Busch picked up a trio of personal wins, claiming the 50-yard freestyle in 25.66 seconds.  She beat the rest to the wall in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:01.10, and out-paced the field in the 100-yard freestyle in 55.73 seconds.

Graf won two races, stopping the watches in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:18.68 and out-distancing the rest in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 18:38.05.  Stewart picked up the 100-yard backstroke victory in 1:01.20 and was the first Jacket across the line in a 2-3-4 RMC finish in the 200-yard backstroke.

Kim Edmonds, the standout from Randolph-Macon Woman's College who shared the conference's top swimming honor a season ago, earned sole possession of the 2007 ODAC Swimmer of the Year accolade by winning three individual events and setting a new conference record.  Her time of 2:13.15 won by a half-second in the 200-yard individual medley, and she followed that up with nearly a three-second triumph in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:08.60.  Edmonds concluded her day with a time of 2:26.92 in the 200-yard breaststroke, eclipsing the 2:27.39 mark set by Katie Kennedy in November 1999.

2007 ODAC Swimming Championships