The men’s swimming and diving team swam their way to another dominant victory as they defeated host Southern Connecticut State University 168-118. The win marks the Lions third straight victory (3-0), and contributes to an auspicious start to the season.
“We were able to get in some quality racing,” senior Shawn Kircher said. “Every meet is an opportunity to make ourselves better, and live racing is the best way to improve upon yourself over the season.”
Senior Tom Medvecky led the Lions, as he won the 200-and 100-yard butterfly events in convincing fashion, posting times of 1:55.75 and 53.01. Fellow senior Joseph Tseng continued his strong senior season as well, winning the 200- and 100-yard backstroke competitions with times of 2:01.03 and 54.92.
Other impressive finishes belonged to freshman Stephen Tarnowski, winning the 200-yard medley in 2:00.63, and sophomore Michael Caputo, winning the 100-yard freestyle event in 10:10.02.
T.J. Burns led the diving squad, posting scores of 300.63 and 293.41 in the 1 and 3-meter diving events.
“Overall I was happy with how I swam today,” said junior Evan Paulan who had a pair of second place finishes. “With the amount of tough training we have been doing on a weekly basis, it’s not easy to go fast or around best times. It is sometimes nice to go a decent or average time knowing that your body is hurting and that I am completely exhausted.”
Like the men, the women’s swimming and diving team also had a convincing victory over Southern Connecticut State, outscoring them 168.5 to 129.5. The win also improves their overall record to 3-0.
Junior Laura Pierce dominated throughout the event, winning three individual events and contributing to a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Pierce won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.63, the 100-free in 53.54 and the 100-yard butterfly touching the wall in 59.44.
Junior Tracey Hofer also had an impressive meet, winning the 200 free with a time of 1:58.58. She also contributed to the team’s 200 medley victory alongside Pierce, sophomore Kayleigh Shangle, and freshman Ashley Conroy.
“At the start of the race I focused on how I want to swim my race,” Conroy said. “I took the 200 back a 50 at a time and the last 50 I always try to pick up my speed and hope for the best.”
Other victories by the Lions belonged to senior Margaret Molloy. Molloy dominated the distance events by winning the 1000-yard with a time of 10:45.36 and the 500-free with a time of 5:11.91.
The men’s and women’s teams will prepare for their next meet on Nov. 14 at Franklin & Marshall College, in hopes of continuing their strong performances.
“We’re going to keep training hard like we’ve been doing, and work on our mistakes from our previous races,” Kircher said. “We try to use each meet to better prepare ourselves for the end result at the conference or national level.”
