With impressive wins over Ramapo College, the College's men's and women's swimming and diving teams are on a roll heading into the postseason. The women's team improved to 4-7, defeating the Roadrunners 117-73 while the men won 103-69 and improved their record to 7-3.
On Friday, the Lions hosted their final dual meet of the year at the College's Aquatic Center and capped off the regular season with impressive performances. Junior Mike Molloy won three events including the 200-meter backstroke (2:00.61), 200-meter freestyle (1:49.01) and 100 freestyle (48.83).
Freshman Joe Tseng, junior Ted Yoa, sophomore Herman Chu and senior Jonaid Lone took first in the 200-meter medley relay in 1:40.15. The Lions also came out victorious in the 200-meter freestyle relay with a time of 1:28.54. Participants in this event were seniors Josh Forsman, Liam Gallagher, Kevin Oliver and Lone.
Other highlights of the men's dominant performances were junior Thomas Nawrot's two victories in the 1,000-meter freestyle (10:56.89) and 50-meter freestyle (21.84). Senior John Altobelli took first in the 100-meter backstroke in 58.55 and sophomore Eric Rohrs won the 100-meter breaststroke in 10:00.78 and the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:14.85.
The Lions swept the 200-meter butterfly event with freshman Tim Rauch, freshman Andrew Hessler and senior R.T. Greeby finishing first through third, respectively. Other victories on this night of triumph included a first-place finish by Lone in the 500-meter freestyle, a victory by Forsman in the 200-meter individual medley and a win by Gallagher in the 100-meter butterfly. This win was a great boost for the men's team as it prepares for the final three tournaments of the season after finishing the season undefeated at home.
The women's team was equally dominant on the night, finishing victoriously in most events. The Lions swept the 200 medley (1:55.17), finishing first through fourth in the event. The winning swimmers were seniors Christine Marino, Lauren Pfeifer and Ava Kiss, and freshman Kristin Udicious, respectively. The women's team also took first in the 200-meter freestyle relay in 1:47.71 led by Kiss, freshman Jennifer Rashti, senior Meghan Moore and Marino.
Other first-place finishes for the College included a victory in the 1,000-meter freestyle by Rashti (11:22.33) and freshman Margaret Molloy's win in the 200-meter freestyle in 1:57.43 and 200-meter backstroke in 2:19.54. Junior Brittany Collyer took first in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:13.01) and Udicious won the 50-meter freestyle (26.13).
Sophomore Stephanie Seto claimed a victory in the 200-meter individual medley (2:17.39), freshman Katie Zavoda took first in the 100-meter freestyle (56.02) and senior Caitlin Elmendorf won the 100-meter butterfly (1:04.85). The women's team is also pumped up going into the postseason, winning three out of its last four meets.
Now that the regular season is officially over, both teams can put their complete focuses on the three final tournaments.
According to head coach Brian Bishop, the men's team is "starting to back off and come down in volume" in preparation for the Metropolitan Conference Championships (METs).
Women's head coach Jennifer Harnett added that the women swimmers "have become more intense in the way of sprinting harder" and will begin preparing for the METs this week.
