By Ron Smith
March 4, 2022
 
(COLUMBUS, Ga.) Westmont athletes produced more All-Americans on the third day of the NAIA National Swimming and Diving Championships as several swimmers met or exceeded their goals.
 
The first race of the day was the 400 individual medley relay in which Morgan Bienias and Ella Chaisson were scheduled to compete.
 
"We made an executive decision to scratch Morgan out of the 400 IM," reported Jill Jones Lin. "Because the field was small, she had a good chance of making it back to the finals. However, we decided to let her finish recovering from the flu and then have her swim tomorrow.
 
That left Chaisson as Westmont's lone representative in the event.
 
"The 400 IM has been daunting for Ella," noted Jones Lin. "I have been trying to encourage her that she is going to be really good in the event."
 
"Going into this morning I was hesitant," acknowledged Chaisson. "I was thinking about asking Jill to scratch me from the race because mentally it is a hard event. But, Rian Lewandowski and Emma Leathers, again, and of course Jill, really motivated me and pushed me to swim it."
 
"This morning, my goal for her was just to be able to get through it. Instead, she dropped nearly five seconds from her best time and made it into the 'A' finals. That wasn't even on our radar. It was a really good swim."
 
Chaisson posted a school record time of 4:35.75 in the prelims, finishing fourth overall.
 
"This morning's (swim) felt very good, so I decided I could do it," noted the freshman.
 
When the finals came a little after 5:00 p.m., Chaisson lined up in lane six. In the three lanes to her right were the three competitors who had swam faster times than she had in the preliminaries.
 
Chaisson's slowest stroke in the medley, compared to her competitors, is the butterfly, which comes first in the event.
 
"I knew I couldn't look at anyone during the fly or I would go out too fast," said Chaisson. "So, I decided to stick with myself for fly and I think it paid off."
 
After 100 yards of the butterfly, Chaisson was in seventh place. However, her time was more than a second faster than in the prelims.
 
"She was more than three seconds ahead of her time this morning by the time the backstroke was over," said Lin Jones.
 
At the end of the breaststroke, Chaisson was chasing down the leaders and was 3.41 seconds faster than in the prelims. When she touched the wall following 100 yards of freestyle swimming, Chaisson's time was   4:31.36, which was 4.39 seconds faster than her time in the morning prelims and 9.30 seconds faster than her best time entering the day. She was also, the national runner-up.
 
"I never expected to be second," said Chaisson. "It is very surprising and the time is very exciting."
 
"It was a well swum race and she raced at the end and held off the people around her to get second," noted Jones Lin. "That was unbelieve and really exciting. I hope it gives her the confidence to know that she is really good in this event and can be even better."
 
Before Chaisson's success in the 400 individual medley, Westmont's 200 yard medley relay team competed and placed seventh in a time of 1:49.03. The same quartet of Ellie Muench, Chaisson, Lewandowski and Bridget Hoth that had earned All-American status in the 400 yard version of the same event the day before, were back on the podium collecting their second team All-American honors.
 
"We came in with the same motivation of wanting to place again," said Hoth. "It is super fun to get on the podium with all the other fast teams. It's the same relay, so we know what we are going to do and we know what we are capable of. We definitely had an idea that we could come in here and place and it was super motivating and exciting."
 
"In tonight's relay, we were in a better heat situation than last night," assessed Jones Lin. "Our time was more competitive with the people we were around. That helped a lot, especially in a sprint relay like this. They did a great job getting the school record and seventh place."
 
Olivia Garrison competed in the 200 yard freestyle prelims for the Warriors and grabbed the final spot in the 'B' finals by placing 16 overall in a time of 1:57.18. In the finals later that afternoon, Garrison placed 14th, and recorded a lifetime best of 1:56.40.
 
"My goal was to finish higher than I was seeded and to beat my time," said Garrison, "I think I definitely achieved that. My goal was to go out fast and I think I did that too.
 
"I definitely need to work on finishing speed next year, but overall, I am really happy with the time."
 
"Olivia was in the outside lane, which is always difficult – especially for her, since she only breathes on one side," explained Jones Lin. "So, half of the race she is not looking at the rest of the field. But she is such a good racer and knows how to challenge herself and knows how to internally motivate.
 
"She went out faster than she did this afternoon and came back strong. She was able to break 1:57, which has been a goal of hers. We don't focus on the 200 freestyle for her. We focus on the distance events and developing those. The 200 and 500 yard freestyles are secondary events for her."
 
Garrison, along with Bienias, are scheduled to compete in the 1,650 yard freestyle tomorrow evening. Bienias enters with the fastest time swum in the NAIA this year at 17:37.73. Garrison's best time of 17:45.24 is the fifth fastest time.
 
Also competing on the final day of the national championships will be Hoth in the 100 yard freestyle and Chaisson in the 200 yard breaststroke.
 
Westmont will also field a team in the final event of the championship – the 400 yard freestyle relay.