Cornell men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams returned to competition with a pair of victories. In their season opener on Saturday evening at Ithaca College, the Red prevailed over St. Bonaventure with the women’s team winning, 144-92, and the men’s team winning, 156-87.
On the women’s side, Cornell (1-0) didn’t experience any slow roll to the competition season and instead started off on a high note, especially with the addition of spectators coming to watch this victory.
Many sophomores and freshmen made their collegiate debut at this meet following the long pause on varsity competition brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sophomore Priscilla Wongso was one such team member, who won her 100 freestyle, finishing at 52.26. Freshmen Schuyler DuPont and Allie Danko flourished in their distance freestyle races. DuPont clocked in at 5:13.31 in the 500 freestyle and Danko won the 1,000 freestyle at 10:30.54.
Senior diver Demetra Williams came back stronger than ever and succeeded in both the one-meter (244.80) and three-meter diver events (267.98). Junior Melissa Parker started off her season in the win column as she claimed first in the 200 freestyle (1:55.42).
The Red had a multitude of strong performances in this meet, including one in the 200 medley relay. With more students participating in their first official meet, achieving a time of 1:48.29, freshman Sophia Tsai, sophomore Amy Wu, freshman Alex Syrkin and Wongso secured the final win of the meet.
During the men’s meet, Cornell (1-0) achieved nine individual event wins and finished first in both relays. During the 200 medley, swimmers sophomore Logan Holt, junior Jack Casey, junior Jeremy Marcin and sophomore Kyle Pro finished at 1:33.85.
In the freestyle events, freshman Joseph Gurski touched the wall first during the 500 freestyle at 4:45.13. Then in the 1,000 freestyle, senior Jake Lawson clocked the winning time at 9:49.09. Those were not the only freestyle events the Red conquered. Junior Jeremy Marcin won his 50 freestyle (21.60) and freshman Jack Banks finished at 47.16, achieving first place in the 100 freestyle.
Junior Jacob Bass also found success during the 200 breaststroke, coming in at 1:54.14. Then freshman Sebastian Wolff won the 200 IM event with a time of 1:54.14 in his collegiate debut.
In the one diving meter competition, Soodong Kim secured his first collegiate victory, earning 286.73 points.
The second relay was the final event of the tournament. The team, consisting of Banks, Pro, senior Ian Mackey and Marcin, emerged victorious in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:04.31.
The Cornell’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving team will compete in their first Ivy League meet of the season next weekend. Cornell will host Harvard and Dartmouth at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 13 at Ithaca College’s Kelsey Partridge Bird Natatorium.