Joseph Vanden Acker

GRINNELL, Iowa — Taylor Winter and Paige Witter led the Lawrence University swim teams on Friday’s opening day of the Midwest Conference Championships at Grinnell College.

Winter and Witter finished back-to-back in the 500-yard freestyle to pace the Vikings. Winter, the defending champion in the event, placed third in 5:07.48 and Witter took fourth in 5:11.84.

The other top finisher for the women was the 400 medley relay team, which placed fourth. The team of Witter, Emily Flack, Rosie Bauer and Eryn Blagg posted a time of 4:05.68.

The women are in sixth place in the team standings with 119 points.

On the men’s side, the top finisher was the 400 medley relay team. The team of Travis Charlow, Stephen Salansky, Christian Bell and Peter Raffel grabbed fourth place in a time of 3:48.50.

The men are in seventh place with 71 points.

Results

APPLETON, Wis. — Paige Witter is a little like Superman.

By day, her Clark Kent persona is a standout swimmer for the Lawrence University Vikings, but her alter ego is a fast-running, horse-riding phenom who is as good with a pistol as she is with a sword.

The modest Witter would likely blush at that sort of comparison, but she has been one of the Midwest Conference’s top swimmers in her two seasons at Lawrence. Witter does have another dimension to her athletic skills that encompass a versatility that extends way beyond the confines of Lawrence’s Boldt Natatorium.

“There were a lot of people when I first told them what I was doing, they thought it was some kind of track and field event,” said Witter, a resident of Denver, Colo.

Witter, who will lead her Lawrence teammates into the MWC Championships this weekend at Grinnell College, also is quite accomplished in the modern pentathlon. The sport combines fencing, freestyle swimming, show jumping and a combined event of pistol shooting and a 3,200-meter run.

“It does encompass a lot, and that was the goal of modern pentathlon when it was created,” said Witter, citing the sport’s creator, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. “He thought he would create a sport that would feature every part of an athlete, both mental and physical. He based the five disciplines off cavalry training.”

Which begs the question, how does a teenager in Colorado get introduced to a sport that isn’t exactly in the mainstream? Witter’s younger brother was fencing in the summer of 2011, and Witter was drawn in.

“I was bored that summer and wanted to try it,” said Witter. “(The coach) learned that I swam so the coach pushed me into doing some competitions and training some more. I just fell in love with the sport.”

Modern pentathlon has been a part of the Olympic Games since 1912, and it was the diversity of the training that attracted Witter. She learned to ride and jump, fence with an epee and shoot the laser pistols used for competition.

A quick study, it was only a year after she started training that Witter was off to Hungary to represent the United States in the Youth World Championships in 2012.

“Based on my background in swimming, that was my strong suit,” Witter said. “Most come from a riding or fencing background. When I was doing it, I had an amazing coach in high school, and she made me improve by leaps and bounds.”

When it came time to look for a college, Witter read the book, Colleges That Change Lives, and she was introduced to Lawrence. She saw Lawrence had a fencing team and was intrigued.

“I initially thought I was going to fence instead of swim,” Witter said. “When I came and visited I felt like I belonged here so I decided to come.”

Witter, who has been swimming competitively since grade school, decided to swim for the Vikings. She will be among the favorites to win the 500-yard freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 butterfly this weekend. Witter also will be a key performer on Lawrence’s relay teams.

“We’ve had a lot of hard practices and we are now in the taper,” Witter said. “We came back from winter break and just beat ourselves up. Coach (Drew) Fleek really pushes us in practice. … I changed up my taper a bit based on my performance from last year. I feel really good going into the weekend and that’s exciting.”

While Witter is fully focused on her efforts in the pool, somewhere in the back of her mind is the lure of modern pentathlon.

“I really do (miss it). There’s a lot of change and learning about yourself when you’re doing that many things. You have to be in different mindsets for different sports. It was hard to go back to doing one thing,” said Witter, adding that modern pentathlon will be in her future.

“It is definitely something I want to be part of and continue with. If I would be able to be involved in any capacity after college, that is something I would definitely want to do.”