38 KIT swimmers in top 20 at DHM 2015
In the period between June 19 and 21, 2015, the General German University Sports Association organized a competition with over 60 participating universities and over 400 active swimmers in the Elbe Schwimmhalle Magdeburg.
For the 43 swimmers of the KIT team (135 individual starts), this meant getting up very early on Friday morning and a truly long bus ride before the first section of the competition started in the late afternoon.
Successful KIT swimmers
Also this year, the competition was very strong. Nevertheless, some great placements could be achieved, thanks to the intensive swim training of the previous weeks. Already in competition 1 and 2, two swimmers (Corinna Kipke, Paula Ullmann) and one swimmer (Hector Sauri Suarez) could place among the best 20 in the 200m freestyle event. Team members also placed among the TOP 20 in the following events: in 100m butterfly Pia Stammer and Alexandra Wahn secured super places for the women and in the men's event Christian Marzi, Jan Schützke and Paul Eigen were successful. On the same day the decisions about 200m backstroke and 400m medley took place. Over 200m backstroke, Nadja MaesoSertano reached a place among the first 10 participants, as well as Tim Wicke with place 7 in the men's and also Hector Sauri Suarez managed a remarkable place among the TOP 20. Clara Mar Guarch Perez completed the successful 1st section from the point of view of the Karlsruhe swimmers with a 6th place over 400m medley.
After Chinese All-you-can-eat and a (more or less) restful night's sleep in the sports hall, the competition sections 2 and 3 followed on Saturday. Tim Wicke was able to rank among the TOP 15 over 50m backstroke. Over 200m breaststroke Felix Schaub reached a sensational 7th place and also Markus Karrer and Konstantin Jacob managed to secure places in the TOP 20. Tim was also able to swim to eleventh place in the 100m freestyle. Six swimmers were among the TOP 20 in the 400m freestyle (Pia, Corinna, Constanze Hodapp, Kim Nordmann, Markus). Hector could shine with a great 5th place. Tug-of-war, "Tsunami" and a fast-paced whirlpool ended the day in the pool. After the traditional pasta party, a very successful party organized by the Magdeburg team awaited the team.
39 competitions: 38 times under the TOP 20!
The last competition day started with a one hour delay due to technical difficulties. However, after these were eliminated, the rest of the competition could be carried out without any problems. In the 100m backstroke Nadja, Clara and Tim had very good performances. Christian won 12th place in the 200m butterfly and Felix took 13th place in the 100m breaststroke. Clara and Florian Müller could again convince in the last competition with great times.
The Karlsruhe team successfully participated in various relays and achieved good placements. Especially the relays 4x100m freestyle of the women (8th place), 4x100m freestyle of the men (7th place) and the 4x100m medley (also 8th place) have to be mentioned.
In the team ranking the following winners could be determined, who were awarded with winner pins:
1st place WG Bochum (243 points)
Place WG Magdeburg (183 points)
Place WG Darmstadt (114 points)
Altogether 39 competitions took place and 38 times the Karlsruhe team was among the TOP 20! And the by far largest team could not only convince in swimming - also by a great team cohesion and an excellent atmosphere!
The return journey by bus to Karlsruhe took quite a long time, because, among others, swimmers from the University of Heidelberg had to be brought back. Around 11:15 p.m., however, the coach reached Karlsruhe with exhausted but visibly satisfied swimmers.
A big thank you goes to all sponsors, organizers and obleuteurs (Konstantin Jacob and Adrian Englhardt) for a great competition, which was a lot of fun for all participants across the university borders and enabled a successful meeting with fair competitions of all swimmers of the universities.