Chanin's Championship Highlights Final Day of SCAC Meet

GARLAND, Texas - Austin College's Liberty Chanin brought home the gold in the 1650 freestyle, establishing a new program record and giving her the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference individual championship in that event as the 'Roos wrapped up the 2022 season on Saturday.

Chanin joined elite company in Austin College history, becoming the first Austin College women's swimmer since Lauren Wheeler won the 100 backstroke in 2015 to earn an individual conference title. She's also the first Austin College women's swimmer since Marjory Gibson in 2007 to earn All-SCAC in the 1650 freestyle, doing so while breaking Gibson's conference mark. Chanin shattered the old record, coming in with a time of 17:42.90, nearly 12 seconds faster than the second place finisher. Chanin also bested her own seed time of 18:53.46 by more than a minute.

Chanin was joined in earning All-Conference accolades on Saturday by Sammi Thiele, who had her third All-SCAC swim of the meet when she took third in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:27.55. Becca Tobias added a seventh place finish in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:21.92, and the 400 free relay team of Chanin, Chloe Hunt, Eleanna Martinez, and Lauren Olivier took fifth with a time of 3:47.07. The team of Max Saenz, Charles Stafford, Sean Cookson, and Alex Lai took fourth in that same event on the men's side, touching with a time of 3:15.80.

The Austin College women finished up with a finish of fifth overall at the meet, totaling 314 points, while the men came in sixth with 183 points.