The men and women’s swimming and diving teams hosted the Lions’ Invitational this past weekend. Unlike their last invitational at Rutgers University, the College competed against fellow Division III rivals Johns Hopkins University, Washington and Lee University and Springfield College.
The men’s team, who was No. 11, captured the Invitational with 1300.5 points. No. 5 Hopkins only amassed 881.5 to take second while Washington and Lee and Springfield took third and fourth respectively.
Three Lions had record breaking performances during the weekend.
Freshman Stephen Tarnowski broke the record in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:02.23. Sophomore Adam Schneider set a school record during the first leg of the 200-yard relay. His 50-yard freestyle clocked in at 20.42. Junior TJ Burns continued his impressive season by setting new records in the one-meter (six dives) and one-meter (11 dives).For those events, he earned second and third place respectively.
The men’s side dominated the finals, both individually and as a team. Three relay teams captured victories on Saturday. In the 200-yard freestyle, Schneider, junior Ryan Clark, as well as seniors Tom Medvecky and Shawn Kircher touched the wall in 1:23.83, almost two full seconds in front of a relay team from Johns Hopkins. Clark would pair up with senior Joe Tseng, Schneider and freshman Michael Oliva to win the 200-yard medley relay in 1:34.71. Clark was also on the third winning relay team of Kircher, Schneider and freshman Stephen Gibson in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
“Our biggest strength by far is that we’re all brothers, it’s a lot easier to swim fast when you’re surrounded by people you enjoy being with,” Schneider said.
The three senior captains also led the team to victory individually. Medvecky took the 100 and 200 yard butterfly. Kircher mirrored his teammate’s efforts in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle. In the longest race of the meet, senior captain Tim Rauch won the 1650-yard free in 16:27.86. Sophomore Mike Caputo and senior Pete Goldsmith almost completed a sweep, but Hopkins freshman Michael Leddy took second, making Caputo and Goldsmith third and fourth respectively.
“The team is looking really strong at this point in the season,” Kircher said. “A lot of guys have already had personal bests and posted really competitive NCAA cuts, which is really exciting. It’s nice to have some fast times under our belt but there’s still a lot of work to do. I won’t be satisfied until the last race of the season.”
The women finished fourth, but still had an eventful weekend. On the opening day, freshman diver Sabrina Lucchesi set another program record with a first place victory in the 3-meter (six dives) event. Senior captain Margaret Molloy took first in the 1650-yard freestyle on Sunday with a time of 17:44.10. She also captured the 500-yard freestyle in 5:04.64 the day before.
