As the old saying goes, “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” This statement applies not only to a wedding, but also to the upcoming Cornell women’s swimming and diving season.
The top scorers from last season are returning. Senior co-captains Shayne Geneva and Lauren Marino lead the way.
“Lauren Marino and Shayne Geneva are both three year letter winners. Geneva is one of our top breaststrokers; Marino is one of our top sprinters. [They bring] tremendous leadership [and] tremendous enthusiasm,” praised head coach Marrie Neumer.
Geneva was the team’s top finisher at the Ivy championships, placing seventh in the 200 breaststroke. Marino brings depth to the free events.
Cornell is also returning last season’s MVP, junior Courtney Tawresey. Tawresey holds the school record in the 200 breast.
The Red hopes to dominate the breast and free events. Cornell expects a lot from other returning swimmers.
“With [senior] Kari Tornabene in the backstroke and [senior] Whitney Yates in the distance backstroke — we will be pretty good in those events. Vanessa Rai, a sophomore, is going to be a good sprint flyer as well. [She] swam all lifetime best-times [this summer],” Neumer scouted.
The Red will have to make due without last year’s rookie of the year Jayme Majek who is sidelined for the entire season and will require shoulder surgery.
After graduating five seniors last season, the Red recruited a talented new class of nine newcomers.
“We are really looking forward to filling in a lot of the gaps we had in the past. Two freshmen in the distance butterfly events, Elizabeth Blackman and Stephanie Kusko, both have the potential to score at the Ivy meet,” Neumer noted.
The team hopes the freshmen can help the point totals increase from last year.
Borrowed? That would be junior transfer student Deanna Moyer. The team expects her to contribute in the breast and distance events.
“Breaststroke looks to be our strongest point, with Geneva, Moyer and [freshman Alyson] Melin all doing well. Since we have our top returners coming back the team has nowhere to go but up,” said Tawresey.
The Ivy league is looking as competitive as ever this season.
“Our Ivy League rivals are Columbia, Penn and Dartmouth. Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Brown are the top four teams and its tough to break into those four teams,” Neumer explained.
The Red has planned a strong non-league season.
“We have one more dual meet. We added St. Bonaventure and the Akron Invitational. We hope we can win every non-league meet, so that we can finish out the season with more of a .500 schedule,” the head coach continued.
For the end of the year, Cornell has set some tough goals for the season.
“I think we should place top two at the conference championship meet. Our goal is to have more kids place in the top-eight at the conference meet,” said Neumer.
The squad opens with dual meets against Ivy foes Dartmouth and Harvard, and Penn and Princeton. During winter break the team is training with the men’s team in Hawaii. The divers look to have another strong season.
“In diving we lost Lisa Dughi, who scored for us last year at the conference meet. We brought in a freshman, [Neal], who with a little more training is going to be a really good diver. Elizabeth Druy is also looking really good. [Senior] Anna Zemjanis has trained very hard over the summer, and I anticipate seeing lifetime bests out of her this year,” Neumer noted.
As for something blue? Take your pick, either wet people during an Ithaca winter, or the water.
Archived article by Cammy Kandiko