GRINNELL, Iowa -- Lawrence University's Hayley Vatch and Peter Brengel walked off with Swimmer of the Year honors at the Midwest Conference Championships at Grinnell College.
Vatch, a senior from Elmhurst, Ill., broke five records and won three individual titles. Led by Vatch, the Lawrence women placed second in the team standings with 583 points. Grinnell won the title with 1,253.
Brengel, a freshman from Milwaukee, Wis., set a record and won a trio of titles. He led the Lawrence men to a third-place finish with 613 points. Grinnell finished first with 1,301.5.
Vatch defended her title in the 500-yard freestyle on Friday's opening day of the championships and set the meet and pool records with a time of 5:08.28. That shattered the championships record of 5:12.52 set by Lake Forest's Randi Estes in 1999. She also surpassed the NCAA "B" qualifying standard.
Vatch won a second title on Saturday when she swam to first in the 200 freestyle in 1:57.03. That broke the 23-year-old record of 1:57.50 set by Coe College's Jennifer Gaard in 1986.
Vatch wrapped up the meet on Sunday by defending her title in the 1,650 freestyle and breaking the meet and pool records with a time of 17:45.10. She set the record of 17:49.25 at last season's championships. Vatch also surpassed the NCAA "B" qualifying standard in the 1,650 freestyle.
Brengel picked up the first of his three titles on Saturday when he won the 100 backstroke in 52.13 seconds. Brengel broke the record of 52.60 seconds set by Brett McMillan of Grinnell back in 2002.
Brengel then picked up a pair of titles on Sunday when he won the 200 backstroke and the 100 freestyle. He swam to victory in the 200 backstroke in 2:01.24 and took first in the 100 freestyle in 48.62 seconds.