The men’s and women’s swimming and diving team traveled to Philadelphia on Nov. 19 for a match against Penn and Princeton at Penn’s Sheerr Pool in Philadelphia. Despite being a challenging match against two teams with difficult records, the Red still stayed strong.
The women’s team continued to show strength throughout the meet, especially with their skilled individuals that were not hesitant to try their best.
Knowing that it was going to be a hard match, the team went into the meet setting the goal to improve their personal records and trying to keep their head in the game while preparing for their next matches.
In the swimming events, junior Melissa Parker and sophomore Priscilla Wongso strengthened their presence in the freestyle events. The duo finished among the top-five of both 50 and 100 freestyle races, with Wongso placing third in 23.69 and Parking as fifth in 23.74 for the 50. For the 100 freestyle, Parker finished in third place (51.59) with Wongso following in fourth (51.79).
In the diving events, senior Demetra Williams finished as a runner-up in the 3-meter with 251.85 points and fourth-place in the 1-meter with 242.85 points.
One of the captains, senior Gillian Caverly, said the team successfully improved on its times from last weekend. The captain was satisfied with the results of the meet that also helped the team to build a community further within themselves. With more pressure on the team this weekend, they had to find a way to keep each other focused and motivated.
Caverly finished fifth in both 100 backstroke (57.00) and 200 backstroke (2:02.86). Senior Allison Chang, another team captain, finished sixth in both 100 breaststroke (1:05.34) and 200 breaststroke (2:23.17).
“I think the way we handle that is just having a really good sense of community going into the meet and being able to bring each other up, especially during that meet when you see other girls going faster than you,” Caverly said.
The team finished with several individuals placing in the top ranks of several events — a departure from previous seasons when there would only be one or two strong performers, according to Caverly.
Head Coach Patrick Gallagher said he was glad the team has been having satisfying matches, staying healthy, even after the pandemic. He said he believes the team is “exactly where [they] need to be,” as the Red continues to train and work.
With Cornell being defeated by Penn by 219-81 and Princeton by 221-78, the Red fell to 2-3 on the season and 1-3 in conference action.
The men’s team also maintained its pace, including junior Jeremy Marcin, who placed second in both 50 freestyle (21.22) and 100 butterfly (49.60). Alongside Marcin, senior Ian Mackey placed sixth in the 50 freestyle (21.63) and freshman Joseph Gurski placed fifth in the 100 butterfly (50.49). Gurski also finished in the 200 butterfly as fourth-place in 1:52.09.
For the distance races, senior Jake Lawson swam fifth in the 1,000 freestyle in 9:44.31 and sixth in the 500 freestyle in 4:42.27. Freshman Sebastian Wolff finished 58.03 in 100 breaststroke, and freshman Jack Banks completed his 100 freestyle in 47.41.
The Red made several improvements throughout the meet, but it fell to Penn and Princeton. Penn defeated Cornell by 208.50 to 91.50, and Princeton emerged victorious by a score of 235.50 to 64.50.
Cornell’s men’s team now drops to 1-4 on the season and 0-4 in the conference standings.
The Cornell men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will be back at the Zippy Invitational hosted by Akron on Dec. 3-5 in Akron, Ohio.