Stephanie Czarobski swims the butterfly for the Duhawks in the San Jose Pool.

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams dove right into the season with strong performances. They both won their first two Iowa Conference dual meets against Coe and Simpson.

The men’s team also claimed a victory at the Monmouth Invite on Nov. 14, while the women’s team was just one point shy of first place.

Sophomore Alex Proctor opened the first meet against Coe College by winning the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 25.57. Proctor had triple wins, also performing well in the 100-meter butterfly and 100-meter freestyle.

Other individual winners for the women at Coe College were junior Kenzie Murray, first-year Stephanie Czarobski, who had a double win in the 200-meter IM and the 100-meter backstroke, and sophomore Colleen Ondracek.

Murray already has gone an impressive 1:10.79 in her 100-meter breaststroke, at the meet against Coe.

After missing part of her season last year due to injuries sustained in a car accident, as well as a semester abroad in Ireland, Murray’s fierce competitive edge and work ethic show why she is a dominant force in the IIAC and Region.

The men and women also won the 200-meter medley and 200-meter freestyle relays. Top performers against Coe College for the men were sophomores Andy Pape and Ricky Lukas, juniors Joe Gracyalny, Tommy Castle and Stephen Ball. Senior Zach Gries and first-year Jason Dewane each had individual wins as well.

Returners to watch out for in the sport this season include Gries, Pape, Lukas, Ball, sophomore Alex Proctor, Murray, and senior Elizabeth O’Donnell.

“The freshman are swimming well,” said coach Doug Colin. “Czarobski, Riss Smirniotis, Ryan Momberger, Robert Kupfert, Dewane, and Gabi Gualke.”

The swim team continues to swim well, as they pound out the yardage and enter into the toughest and most grueling phases of their training.

Their workouts right now consist of two-thirds of the week in two-a-day swim workouts, two-thirds of the week of weightlifting, two days of dry land, and on the weekends they are competing.

Several members battled through the tiresome stage of the season, which led to victories at the Monmouth Invite.

Key performances were provided by Lukas, who won the 1,650-meter freestyle; Gries in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke, and the 200-meter IM; Pape took second in the 200-meter and 500-meter freestyles; and Castle and senior Chris Hennessey went second and third, respectively, in the 100-meter butterfly.

The men’s 400-meter free relay took first place. The team consisted of Gracyalny, Gries, Pape and Lukas.

On the women’s side, Proctor won the 100-meter freestyle and was the runner-up in the 100-meter butterfly, first-year Gabi Gualke was second in the 400-meter IM and the 1650-meter, and Murray was second in the 200-meter breastroke.

The Loras women claimed both the 400-meter medley and the 400-meter free relays swam by Murray, Czarobski, Proctor, and first-year Andrea Hagen.

The swim team recently swept Simpson, with the women’s team winning every event and the men’s team winning all except two events.

Individual winners at Simpson were Proctor in the 800-meter free and the 100-meter back; Gabi Gualke in the 100-meter and the 200-meter freestyle; Murray in the 50-meter and the 400-meter freestyle; Czarobski in the 100-meter breastroke; and Smirniotis in the 100-meter butterfly. The 200-meter freestyle and 200-meter medley relays also won.

On the men’s side, individual winners included Pape in the 800-meter freestyle and the 100-meter back; Momberger in the 200-meter freestyle; Dewane in the 200-meter IM; Kupfert in the 100-meter butterfly; junior Mike Gerken in the 400-meter freestyle.

The 200-meter freestyle and 200-meter medley relays also were victorious.

Overall the season started out quite successful with some members stepping up and swimming fast times early, showing even more promise for the end of the season goals. Colin recognized Ball as the most improved athlete so far on the men’s side.

“He has just already gone fast times and is practicing with Ricky, Andy, and Zach,” he said.

Colin hopes the four will make for a strong 800-meter free relay team for the Liberal Championship meet at the end of the year. But right now the team is focusing on finishing up the first half of the season before Christmas break and the traditional Florida Training Trip.

“We are really looking forward to getting some good swims in and seeing what we are capable of doing before we go off for break,” Colin said.