Dominant victories over Ramapo College this weekend have the Lions' men's and women's swimming teams rolling through the early season. After Saturday's meet, both teams hold an undefeated 3-0 record and a 2-0 mark in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.
Winning easily by a final score of 111-72, two of the men's squad's 200-yard medley relay teams opened the meet with a tie for first place, finishing in 1:39.46. The first winning team included junior Ryan Kearney, sophomore Aaron Moskovich, sophomore Tim Rauch and junior James VanBiervliet. The second team to post the winning time comprised sophomores Shawn Kircher, Tom Medvecky, Joe Tseng and junior Myles O'Connor.
Medvecky also took first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:44.44, while Kircher came up victorious in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing in 22.49. Sophomore Peter Goldsmith won the 1,000-yard freestyle event, completing the race in 10:34.40.
As the meet continued, so did the dominant performances, as senior tri-captain Mike Heaney finished first in the individual medley (2:04.34), O'Connor won the 100-yard butterfly (56.58) and senior Thomas Nawrot took first in the 100-yard freestyle (49.44).
"We have a special group of guys this season and whether we lose a meet or win them all, I know we are going to go through with the rest of the season as hard as we can," Medvecky said.
In women's action, the team took home a convincing 138.5-48.5 victory, over the Ramapo Roadrunners. Lions' sophomore star Margaret Molloy finished first in the 100 freestyle with a time of 55.31 and was also part of the winning 200 freestyle relay team that included freshman Melissa Hessler and seniors Sara Casciano and Stephanie Rashti.
In the 200 medley relay, the College took first as well, winning the event in 1:59.12. The winning foursome comprised senior Stacy Delehanty, sophomore Katie Zavoda, junior Christina Falcone and freshman Laura Pierce.
Other highlights included wins by Zavoda in the 200 freestyle (2:05.56) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:14.44), junior Ashley Cobb in the 50-yard freestyle (26.12) and freshman Kelsey Herchenrider in the 200-yard individual medley (2:23.34).
"The girls were really confident going into this meet," coach Jennifer Harnett said. "They really went after it placing and time-wise. It was good to race without having to think too much."
Following this trend of success, Hessler was victorious in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 1:02.18, while junior Stephanie Seto won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:06.00. Rounding out the winning ways for the squad was freshman Traci Hofer, who took the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:32.65.
Next up for the Lions is a dual-meet weekend at Franklin and Marshall College and Southern Connecticut State University.
Harnett said, "This weekend will be a great opportunity to get two meet experiences heading towards our championship tournament."
