By Miguel Gonzalez
Sports Editor
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams endured a pair of losses against New York University and Johns Hopkins University on Nov. 18.
The men were swiftly defeated by New York University, 208-90 and by Johns Hopkins University, 186-76. The women also fought adversity after dropping 251-44 to New York University and 218-41 to Johns Hopkins.
In the men’s competition, junior Alex Skoog was on top against New York and Johns Hopkins. Skoog claimed first in the 200-backstroke with a time of 1:52.44. He then got second place in the 100-backstroke and clocked in at 51.83. Skoog fought to a fifth place finish in the 50-freestyle, swimming it in 21.94.
At the diving board, freshman Jay Soukup claimed second place in the 1- and 3-meter diving events.
Sophomore Harrison Yi also had a strong performance. Yi got second place in the 200-freestyle with a time of 1:42.39. At the 100-freestyle, he swam to fourth place with a time of 47.61. Yi concluded the meet with another fourth place finish at the 500-free, clocking in at 4:47.04.
NYU and Johns Hopkins proved to be challenging opponents.
“NYU and JHU are both ranked in the top six in the nation so we definitely had our hands full,” said head coach Brian Bishop. “This meet gave us a glimpse of what we need to do moving forward. We need show some more mental toughness when going against elite competition.”
For the women’s swimming and diving team, junior Gabi Denicola battled to sixth place in the 1,000-freestyle with a time of 11:21.49. Sophomore Annie Menninger also swam to a personal record finish in the 200-freestyle, clocking in at 2:20.45. Senior Hannah Raymond dominated at the diving board as she snatched second place in the 1-meter event with a score of 292.66.
The Lions will compete at home for the TCNJ Invitational from Friday, Dec. 1 to Monday, Dec. 4. Bishop sees the TCNJ Invitational as way to gear up for future meets.
“For the invite, our focus will be on setting ourselves with some fast swims for a strong push through the second half of the season including METS and NCAA’s,” Bishop said.
