By Miguel Gonzalez
Sports Editor
Ramapo College was no match for the Lions on Saturday, Nov. 4, when the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams captured another conference win in the Aquatics Center. The men took down Ramapo, winning 11 of out 12 individual events with a score of 189-73. The women beat Ramapo by a score of 169.5-90.5.
Underclassmen paved the way for the Lions. Freshman Andrew Thompson dominated the 100- and 200-backstroke, winning the 100-backstroke in 53.83 and the 200-backstroke in 1:57.38.
Fellow freshman Andrew Duff captured first at the 100-breaststroke with a time of 1:01.69 and finished third in the 200-breaststroke.
Sophomore Harrison Yi then outpaced Ramapo College in the 1,000-freestyle in 10:03.69 and the 200-individual medley in 1:58.59. Harrison was the only swimmer to clock in under two minutes. Thompson also placed second at the 200-individual medley.
Head coach Brian Bishop expects Yi to accomplish a lot in his sophomore season.
“Yi is a tremendous athlete and can swim just about any event,” Bishop said. “As a freshman last season, he was first team All-American and I expect even bigger things from him this season. His versatility gives us multiple options down the road in bigger meets.”
Senior Phil Binaco also won the 50-freestyle in 21.93. Junior Alex Skoog won the 100-freestyle with a time of 46.70.
The women’s team also had an impressive performance. Freshman Jamie Bowne headlined the team’s performance with three individual event wins. Bowne took the 1,000-freestyle in 11:42.46. She claimed first in the 100-butterfly with a time of 1:01.44. She then got her third win at the 200-individual medley with a time of 2:21.26.
Freshman Melanie Fosko swam ahead of the competition at the 100-breaststroke in 1:10.77. She only beat fellow freshman Annie Menninger by a millisecond. Fosko won the 500-freestyle by more than seven seconds.
Menninger then took first at the 200-breaststroke in 2:34.10, four seconds ahead of competitors.
Senior captain Jillian Galindo also grabbed a victory in the 200-butterfly.
Bishop plans on preparing the Lions for upcoming meets against New York University and John Hopkins University.
“We beat NYU in the last event to win the meet last season after losing the last event and the meet in 2015,” Bishop said. “Currently NYU is ranked fourth, JHU is sixth and we are 13th (according to CollegeSwimming.com’s NCAA Division III rankings). I expect a lot of really fast swims and while it will be a tremendous challenge for us, it should be really exciting.”
