The College’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams headed up to Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, C.T., on Saturday, Nov. 1. The men’s team added another win to the growing streak of 3-0, while the women’s team suffered a close loss bringing its record to 2-1. Both teams fought hard against the Division II swimming teams and, despite the women’s loss, had another commanding performance.
The men’s team, once again, came out strong in its first event of the meet, with contributions coming from the whole roster. Junior James Shangle — who had a successful night in the water — helped set the tone of the night in the men’s 200-yard medley relay. Along with senior Aleksander Burzinski, sophomore Jin Roh and senior Brett Pederson, the four men were able to post a winning time of 1:34.96.
Shangle went on to win three more individual events in the meet — the men’s 100-yard breaststroke, men’s 200-yard breaststroke and men’s 200-yard IM. In the men’s 100-yard breaststroke, Shangle posted an impressive time of 58.43, showing that he came into this meet to compete. He dominated the men’s 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:09.79, eight seconds ahead of his teammate, freshman Chris O’Sullivan, who took second with a time of 2:17.67. Shangle finished out his night by posting another winning time of 1:57.94 in the men’s 200-yard IM.
Shangle wasn’t the only one putting up amazing numbers — the swimmers competed at their best to help the team leave with the win.
The men came out strong in the men’s 100-yard freestyle by taking all the top spots. Senior Brett Pederson, sophomore Andrew Nesbitt and senior Brian Perez all came in close at the end with winning times of 47.02, 47.67 and 48.64, respectively.
The always exciting, 50-yard freestyle was another very close win. Pederson put up a fast time of 21.58, reaching the end just one second before his SCSU competitor.
In the men’s 200-yard freestyle, Nesbitt tied with his SCSU opponent — both touching the wall at 1:45.07. The race was very close, with Andrew being ahead of the swimmer by one second when he posted his first time at 1:18.92, but in the end, both swam their hardest for the first place spot and ended up tying.
Not only did SCSU present a challenge to the men’s team, but the women had some close races, as well.
Sophomore Brenna Strollo — who has been having a strong season so far — won the women’s 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:01.90, just about one second before her SCSU competitor.
In the women’s 100-yard butterfly, Strollo once again proved that this is a sport of merely seconds, beating the second place SCSU swimmer by one second with a time of 1:01.93.
The edge-of-your-seat races continued with junior Lauren Rothstein taking a close second in the women’s 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.49.
Rothstein was able to help her teammates take first in the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay. She swam alongside freshman Ali Huber, senior Summer Thomas and her younger sister, freshman Emily Rothstein.
The women crushed SCSU and dominated the water throughout the entire race, posting a final time of 3:42.54. The race was the best way to end the night for the women, who only lost to SCSU 149.5-144.5, continuing the theme of the night of narrow margin wins.
The teams will have about two weeks off, giving both teams enough time to prepare themselves — both physically and mentally — for their next meet against New York University on Saturday, Nov. 15, in the College’s Aquatic Center where they look to continue the impressive success.
