GRINNELL, Iowa – The Ripon swim and dive programs kicked off their culminating meet of the 2023-24 campaign on Friday, starting the Midwest Conference Championships at the Russell K. Osgood Pool on the campus of Grinnell College.
 
After the morning prelim session, four individual Red Hawks advanced to the "B" final of their respective events: Cooper Herr, Natalie Weidner and Sky Domingo in the 500-meter free and Ben Chambers in the 50 free.
 
In the night finals session, Herr took fourth with a 5:01.13 showing in the men's 500, good for fourth on Ripon's all-time list in that event, while Domingo and Weidner took fourth and sixth in the women's 500 with times of 5:30.85 and 5:39.38, respectively.
 
Chambers swam the 50 free to the tune of 22.20, good for eighth place.
 
In the 3-meter diving finals, Kristy Cerna-Rivera came in third with a score of 301.70.
 
Both the men's and women's 200 free relays and the 400 medley relay teams competed in Friday night's session as well.
 
The women's 200 free relay team of Domingo, Weidner, Sophie Czerwonka and Lauren Bahr came in fourth with a 1:43.21 showing, while the men's squad of Brigham Freeman, Ben Rahlf, Herr and Chambers (1:28.52) also took fourth. In the 400-medley relay to close out the night, the same men's team touched the wall in 3:39.05 to earn a fifth-place finish.
 
The men stand in sixth place after the opening day with 64 points while the women are in seventh with 54 points.
 
UP NEXT: Ripon begins day two of the MWC Championships on Saturday (February 17) at 10 a.m. with the 200-medley relay.
 
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