DECATUR, Ga. — Coming back from winter break, the Vixen swimmers begin their march towards the ODAC Conference Championships with their annual Florida Training Trip. Along the way, the team competed in the 1st Annual Smart Women Sweat Invitational hosted by Agnes Scott.

After the first day, despite the demanding practice schedule, despite the many injuries, the team finished the first day of competition in 2nd place with a total of 478 points. "I was very proud of the team's effort, most importantly, the high energy level they came with the meet. They came together, and challenged themselves to have their season-best performances despite the heavy training schedule.”

Hannah Hesser highlighted the first day with a victory in her signature event, the 100-meter butterfly. She also placed second in the 1500-meter freestyle. Sweet Briar placed three swimmers in the top six of the 50-meter freestyle. Sophomore Melissa Simpson placed second with a time of 29.66.

Coach Kuhn mentioned solid performances were turned in by Laura Wolf in the 400-meter Individual Medley and by Brittany Hopkins in the 100-meter backstroke. "Laura and Brittany had great swims, and thus, were the awarded the team's MVP swimmers for the day. Laura is rounding into conference championship champ and Brittany trained extremely well over winter break."

The team will return to Agnes Scott tomorrow to finish the Invitational before making their way to Fort Myers Beach, FL.