GRINNELL, Iowa -- Lawrence University women's swimming and diving star Mattie Letendre broke a school-record and another record-breaking performance kept her from grabbing a title Saturday at the Midwest Conference Championships.
    In the preliminaries of the 100-yard backstroke at Osgood Pool, Letendre swam to a time of 58.46 seconds to break Erin Lengel's school record of 58.62 seconds set in 2019. Letendre swam to second in the final with a time of 58.67 seconds and was edged for the title by St. Norbert College's Janie Richards, who won the event in 57.30 seconds and broke the meet record in the process.
    Letendre also posted a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a time of 58.08 seconds. Letendre also swam on the 200 medley relay team that placed fourth. She teamed with Stella Macfarlane, Irina Starostin and Emily Hornung for a time of 1:53.70.
    The 800 freestyle relay team of Mackenzie Petty, Ella Lee, Kristyn Landon and Olivia Szabo Gartner swam to sixth place with a time of 8:47.32. The other top individual performance came from diver Chloe VandeHey, who was sixth on the 3-meter board with a score of 269.25 points.
    The Lawrence women are fourth with 196 points.
    Jackson Bertman led the Lawrence men's squad on Saturday with a second-place finish on the 1-meter board. Bertman grabbed the runner-up spot with a score of 386.95, and teammate AJ Ulwelling was third with a score of 284.65.
    Lawrence had two swimmers place in the top seven in the 400 individual medley. Michael Thorson grabbed sixth place with a time of 4:20.05, and Keegan Mencke was seventh in 4:20.84. 
    The 800 freestyle relay team of Thorson, Robert Klockow, Mencke and Nathan Gault-Crabb raced to fourth place with a time of 7:34.59. The 200 medley relay team of Leighton Frater, Alex Bemben, Aaron Harris and Davis Wukovits grabbed fifth place in 1:39.40.
    The Lawrence men are in fourth place with 244 points.
    The meet concludes on Sunday.