After home victories against Rowan University last week, the College's men and women's swimming and diving teams attempted to continue their winning ways at New York University (NYU).
The Violets handed the Lions a pair of defeats. The men fell 167.5-132.5 and are now 5-3, while the women are 2-7 after falling 169-128.
Despite the loss, junior Greg Lloyd had a record-breaking performance in the one- and three-meter dives. He broke both NYU Aquatic Center and College re cords when he scored a 326.11 and 360.90 in the respective events. He bested a one-meter College record that had stood since 2003 while he broke his own one-year record in the three-meter dive.
Coaches Brian Bishop and Jennifer Harnett discussed the rivalry between the College and NYU, and it was on the mind of the swimmers as well.
"The older guys say we can't lose to NYU," freshman Tom Medvecky said before the meet. "I know I have three tough races and it'll be a dogfight, but it'll come down to whoever wants it more."
Medvecky swam well against NYU, finishing second in the 200-meter freestyle (1:44.84), the 200-meter butterfly (1:56.83) and the 500-meter freestyle (4:48.43).
Other highlights of the meet for the Lions were junior Thomas Nawrot's first-place finish in the 100-meter backstroke (53.36), senior Josh Forsman's victory in the 100-meter butterfly (52.52) and sophomore Myles O' Connor's win in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:13.33).
The College also finished second in the 200-meter medley relay. Contributing to the relay were Nawrot, O'Connor, Forsman and senior Liam Gallagher. Junior Mike Molloy came in second in the 1,000-meter freestyle in 10:11.73.
Among the highlights from the women's events was a continuation of freshman Margaret Molloy's impressive rookie season. Molloy took first in the 1,000-meter freestyle with a time of 10:48.30 and also added a pair of second-place finishes in the 100- and 500-meter freestyle events.
Senior Ava Kiss also swam well as she posted a pair of first-place victories in the 100-meter butterfly and 100-meter freestyle, finishing in 58.88 and 54.76, respectively.
Kiss also contributed to a Lions victory in the 200-meter freestyle relay with the help of freshman Michele Wilson, sophomore Ashley Robb and senior Lauren Pfeiffer. The Lions finished in the first three spots in the 200-meter individual medley with freshman Stephanie Seto taking the event in 2:19.35, junior Brittany Collyer finishing second in 2:21.32 and junior Sara Casciano finishing third in 2:23.88.
Harnett said the women will be "focusing more on sprint work" during their training sessions.
The Lions continue their arduous training as they prepare for the Metropolitan Conference Championships and the NCAA Division III Championships to finish out the season.
"We have been training incredibly hard since the first week in December," Bishop said. "We are doing hard work now so we can be rested for the tournament."
