The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams squared off against Princeton and Penn this weekend with mixed results. The men’s team split against its Ivy League competition Friday night, beating Penn, 171-72, and losing to Princeton, 164-79. The women’s team lost to both Penn and Princton at their dual meet on Saturday.
Both the men’s 400-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay teams placed second behind Princeton. The medley relay swam a combined time of 3:23.70, two seconds behind the Princeton team, while the Tigers edged out the Red (3:04.58) by just five tenths of a second in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The Red got another dominant performance from junior Mike Smit, who won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.91. Smit beat out Princeton swimmer Doug Lennox by only eight hundredths of a second. Despite some strong performances, the Red weas unable to keep up with the talented Princeton squad.
“If we swam as well as we should have, we would have been a lot closer against Princeton,” Smit said.
Junior Mike Balint also had a strong outing, winning the 50-yard freestyle (21.16). Junior Brad Gorter finished fourth in the same race with a time of 21.46.
“I think that we had a couple good swims, and a couple that weren’t that great,” Smit said. “We can learn from it, and we can do better next time.”
Freshman Wes Newman proved that he deserves to be competing at the college level on Friday, swimming well in all of his events. Newman won the 500-freestyle race with a strong time of 4:33.88 and was the leadoff man for the second-place 400-yard freestyle relay. Junior diver Luke Baer contributed to the Red’s scoring drive in the 3-meter board with a score of 297.2. Freshman Chris Donohoe placed fourth on the same event with a score of 275.55 and placed third on the 1-meter board (241.75).
“I’m very pleased with how well we’re diving,” said diving head coach Rick Gilbert. “We’re progressing along very nicely and we’re in good shape.”
The women’s team was not as successful at the meet on Saturday, falling to both Penn and Princton. The 400-yard freestyle relay swam to a second-place finish (3:40.86), while the 200-yard medley team finished fourth with a time of 1:51.85.
Individually, the Red once again got a strong effort from sophomore Leah Tourtellotte, who won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:09.82 and placed second in the 50-yard free (24.76).
The Red was also helped by senior Jessica Brookman, who won the 100-yard butterfly and finished third in the 200-yard back.
Junior Kristin Rayhack dominated in the diving events, winning the 1-meter board with a score of 252.20. Rayhack went on to take second on the 3-meter board with a score of 294.9.
“I thought we did really well, especially for this time of the year,” Gilbert said. “We started practicing in October and only six weeks later here we are competing. I think we’re right on pace.”
The Red raced well in the 100-yard fly, earning both third and fourth in the event. Senior Ashley Johnson took third with a time of 1:00.63 and sophomore Nicole Traiverdian placed fourth overall (1:01.08).
Archived article by Matt Sarnak
Sun Staff Writer