Following a tough start to the season at Loyola Maryland, the swimming and diving team returned to the Weinstein Natatorium where it put up an improved performance against Colgate. The men won their meet 199-99, while the women came up just short to the Raiders 165-131.
“Being at home is a great feeling,” junior Sean Robinson said. “The stands are usually full of parents and our friends supporting us. Not having to do an hours-long drive in the morning is great, and after an early warm-up, our swimmers can stretch and relax before we go back down to the pool for the start of the meet.”
While Loyola handily beat the Leopards in Baltimore, the Leopards had two weeks in between competitions to prepare for the meet against Colgate.
“This past few weeks we’ve really focused on the tiny details that are often forgotten about,” senior Martha Seaver said. “We’ve been doing a lot of underwaters and flip turns to practice the micro-things that could shave off some time.”
In the race itself, the men saw a slew of first-place finishes. Seventy percent of the heats saw multiple podium finishers for the Leopards. Junior captain Peter Kawash had four first-place finishes, three as a solo competitor and one in the men’s 400-yard Medley Relay alongside senior James Lapsley, junior Avery LeTourneau and freshman Charles Barker.
Sophomore Tommy Weber visited the top spot on the podium on three different occasions, alone in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle and then as part of the 200-yard freestyle relay with junior Tim Jimenez, junior Antonio Arena and freshman Alexander Reihl.
“As a whole, I think we did better than we did at Loyola,” Robinson said. “Swimming in our home pool is always a better feeling and knowing that we are capable of having a close meet with Colgate excited us. Personally, I had about the same times at Colgate, but I split the times between increments of my race better.”
On the women’s side, sophomore Isabella Van Ness notched two first-place victories in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke while junior Maggie Ivie placed first in the 100-yard backstroke. The team also saw a number of freshmen step up with Caroline Schnek and Diedre Scudder taking second place in the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke, respectively.
“The men won and while the women didn’t, we still put up a good fight and improved our times since Loyola,” Seaver said. “Overall it’s probably the strongest the team has been as a whole and our coach was proud of the performance.”
Now the team has shifted gears to focus on the coming meet at Navy this weekend.
“Navy is a tough meet for us just because we go up against Navy which is the top two teams in the league,” Seaver said. “But it’s always nice to swim against faster teams to push ourselves. American could be closer battle for both women and men so [I am] excited to see how that turns out.”
“Navy has a great pool and the quad meet with them, Bucknell, and American is one of my favorite meets,” Robinson said. “So far this week we have been having tough practices to prepare us for this meet and I think our coach has done a great job getting us ready.”
