This past Saturday, the Lions swimming and diving teams swept the Pioneers of William Paterson University (WPU) in their last regular season meet of the year. Their record now stands at a stellar 7-2.
"This was our last chance before the conference championships to get some more good races in," head coach Brian Bishop said. "We were able to swim some off-events so we could concentrate on getting our final tuneup before championships."
The Lions dominated over the Pioneers so much that the swimmers started swimming exhibition races so as not to run up the score on WPU.
In the men's 400-medley relay, the College took first with a time of 3:43.89 behind the efforts of senior co-captain Steve Swenson, sophomore John Altobelli, junior Kyle King and freshman Ted Yoa.
"We had a rather large victory over WPU," King said. "The team swam well as a whole with some people swimming off-events. I was happy with the splits I did in each of my relays. They weren't particularly fast, but I was pleased."
In the women's 1,650 freestyle, freshman Karly Daplyn took first for the Lions with a time of 19:40.23. For the men's 1,650 freestyle, sophomore Liam Gallagher trounced his opponents as he took first with a time of 17:44.11.
Junior Julie Nami received first in the women's 200 freestyle as she came in at 2:09.10. Freshman Mike Molloy of the men's team also placed first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:48.89.
In the 50 freestyle, senior Jeff Glenn edged out senior Glen Sudol by .01 seconds to take first with a time of 22.51. Sophomore R.T. Greeby came away from the 200 butterfly at 2:09.24. Sophomore Ava Kiss scored first in the 200 butterfly for the women as she took first with a time of 2:14.59.
In the 500 freestyle, senior Karen Bocian grabbed first for the women with a time of 5:38.92, while freshman Tom Nawrot picked up the 5:13.65 first-place finish for the men in the same race.
In the women's 200 breaststroke, senior tri-captain Erin Stutz came away with the victory with a time of 2:36.72. Gallagher won the event for the men in a time of 2:20.60.
"It was the last regular season meet for the seniors so they definitely stepped it up a bit," Bishop said. "It was our last chance to get ready for the championships and we pushed for an easy win."
In diving, freshman Greg Lloyd scored big in the one-meter event as he came away with 229.88 points and first place for the Lions. Junior Lee Swanson also captured the event for the women's team as she collected 207.68 points on her dives.
In the three-meter event, Swanson took first uncontested as she finished with 221.70 points. Lloyd took first place with 251.25 points in the same event, but his points were put into exhibition and did not count toward the Lions' point total.
Next up for the Lions is the Rutgers Diving Invitational, where Lloyd and Swanson will test their skills on Feb. 11. The Metropolitan Conference Championships should also prove to be an exciting battle when they begin on Feb. 17.
"It is going to be one of the closest meets in recent years," Bishop said. "The difference in receiving the title could be only 40 points. Out of 800 possible points, 40 is really close."
