Men’s and women’s swim and dive traveled to Pennsylvania for their second Ivy League meet of the season on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23 against the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton. The women’s team showed impressive time drops despite losing to tough opponents while the men’s team battled in a close meet to split the weekend.
Men’s swim and dive (4-2) split its second meet in a row, defeating rival Penn for the first time in a decade by a 158-142 margin and falling to Princeton 163-37.
“Beating Penn has been one of the main goals since I’ve been on the team,” said senior captain Sebastian Wolff. “Penn is and always has been a very strong team. Beating them gives us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season.”
Senior Soodong Kim highlighted diving for the men, placing third in the one-meter event with a score of 285.45 and fourth in the three-meter with a score of 293.75. Freshman Max Reis Trovillion also put on an impressive performance, finishing fourth in the one-meter event with a score of 262.45.
In swimming, a handful of clutch performances pushed the men to be competitive in a close meet. Junior Pietro Ubertalli found himself on the podium twice with a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle and a second-place finish in the 200-yard back. Sophomore Blake Conway impressed in the backstroke events, placing first in the 100-yard back in a scorching time of 48.01 and third in the 200-yard back. Senior Joseph Gurski followed up in the butterfly events placing first in the 100-yard fly and second in the 200-yard fly.
The moment of the meet came in the second event, when sophomore Julian Correa broke a school record in the 1000-yard free, clocking in a time of 9:05.32.
“Breaking a school record this early in the season is not only extremely challenging, but proves that Julian’s own momentum is high,” Wolff said.
Podium finishes continued to be a theme throughout the meet. Freshman Josh Toothman placed second in the 50-yard free, senior Dominic Edwards finished second in the 100-yard free and the men’s 200-yard medley relay placed second. After a hard-fought meet, the men finally lifted themselves over Penn with a second and third-place finish in the 400-yard free relay.
Women’s swim and dive (2-4, 0-4 Ivy League) sustained two defeats against Penn and Princeton by scores of 217-83 and 219-81 respectively.
In diving, sophomore Morgan Ogata put up an impressive performance, finishing sixth in one-meter diving with a score of 234.75 and third in the three-meter event with a score of 275.90.
In swimming, several top-three finishes highlighted the meet. The women placed third in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:42.84. Junior Kate Li finished third in the 100-yard freestyle and sophomore Hojung Yoon followed up with a third-place finish in the 200-yard back.
Regardless of the losses, significant time drops across the board show promise for the women’s team. Freshman Sophia Sim finished fifth in the 100-yard fly with a time of 55.58, a one-second drop from her previous best, and fourth in the 200-yard back in a time of 2:02.51 — a two-second time drop. Junior Jungmin Yoon placed fourth in the 200-yard free with a time of 1:49.83 which marking a one-second drop. Sophomore Hojung Yoon’s third-place 200-yard back time of 1:58.54 is a two-second drop from her previous best.
Following lots of time improvements from the women’s team and a showcase of depth from the men’s team, the swim and dive teams will hit the pool again from Thursday, Dec. 5 to Sunday, Dec. 8 in Akron, Ohio at the first taper meet of the season — the Zippy Invitational.