The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams returned from winter break with a strong home showing this past Saturday.
The men’s team, which hosted Navy and Yale, performed well in its return to the Teagle Hall Natatorium.
The team crushed Navy, 149-94, and also managed to defeat Yale, 136-107. The Red won eight of Saturday’s 13 total events.
Junior Mike Smit set a pool record with his win in the 200-free, with a time of 1:38.99. Smit also won the 200-yard fly with a time of 1:51.32.
Senior captain Stefano Caprara also swam well for the Red, winning two individual events. He took the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:55.17, and the 200-yard back with a time of 1:50.61.
Caprara was also part of the victorious 400-yard medley relay team, along with senior captain Jarad Levan and juniors Dave McKechnie and Brad Newman. The relay team set another pool record en route to their win, with a time of 3:23.94.
McKechnie notched an individual win as well, swimming the 200-yard breast in a time of 2:09.36.
Freshman Wesley Newman had a great outing for the Red, with a first-place finish in the 1,000-yard free and a second place showing in the 500-yard free.
Smit and Newman comprised half of a relay team that won the 400-yard free relay. Sophomore Brad Gorter and freshman Jackson Wang made up the rest of the team.
The Red’s divers also performed well, with junior Luke Baer finishing second and freshman Chris Donohoe taking third in the 3-meter diving event.
The women’s swimming and diving team also turned in a solid performance in its half of the double dual meet this past Saturday. The women defeated Navy, 178-122, but lost to Yale, 192-108.
“It was definitely the best meet we’ve had all year,” said senior Ashley Johnson, who earned a second place finish in the 100-yard fly with a time of 59.15.
Sophomore Emilie Rennie posted her season-best time in the 1,000-yard free with a time of 10:33.79.
Johnson attributes a lot of the success from the meet to a new attitude around the locker room.
“There were a lot of close races and we won a lot of them by touching out the other swimmers. It shows how much the team wanted to win,” Johnson said. “Morale is up. The team wants to win and that’s really bringing us all together.”
Sophomore Leah Tourtellotte won the 200-yard free and was also part of the 400-yard free relay team that won with a time of 3:32.53. Seniors Jessica Brookman and Elissa Kline, and freshman Laura Luedke rounded out the rest of the winning relay team.
Kline also won the 500-yard free with a time of 5:08.36.
Brookman’s stellar performance was not limited solely to the relay team – she also placed first in the 100-yard back with a time of 57.92, and she won the 100-yard free with a time of 53.21.
But the Yale-Navy dual meet wasn’t Brookman’s only competition over the break. On Dec. 2, she traveled to Auburn, Ala., to race in the U.S. Open Swimming Championships. She swam the best time of her career and qualified for “B” final in the 100-meter fly. She finished 16th overall out of the incredibly competitive field of over 50.
“It was pretty cool to just be there – [I was] a few lanes down from girls that swam in the 2004 Olympics and still felt like I was competitive.”
Archived article by Lance Polivy
Sun Staff Writer