By Miguel Gonzalez
Sports Editor
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams endured a setback on the road against Stevens Institute of Technology on Sunday, Jan. 21. The men lost 117-88 while the women were defeated with a similar score of 119-86.
Earlier on Saturday, Jan. 20, at home, the women’s team grabbed a conference victory against Kean University, 119-64.
Despite the loss to Stevens, several members of the men’s team won races.
Freshman Andrew Thompson was victorious in the 200-individual medley in 1:59.04.
Thompson then finished second in the 100-backstroke, clocking in at 53.29. Junior Alex Skoog was close behind and came in third with a time of 54.37.
Head coach Brian Bishop applauded Thompson’s efforts during the meet.
“Thompson is a very talented swimmer with an incredibly bright future,” Bishop said. “He showed tremendous determination in winning the 200 IM and kept us in the meet when things weren’t going our way.”
At the 100-freestyle, freshman Griffin Morgan claimed first with a time of 48.17. Sophomore Harrison Yi also came in first at the 200-freestyle, clocking in at 1:45.91.
While the men’s team was dominated by Stevens, Bishop complimented the talent and caliber of their team.
“Stevens is a talented squad with an outstanding coach,” Bishop said. “They had a great day and put up some really fast swims. We were a little off and couldn’t overcome falling behind early.”
Stevens posed a challenge for the women, who only won the 100-backstroke, in which the Lions took the first three places. Senior Jillian Galindo led the way with a first place finish followed by freshmen Katie Doyle and Kayla Krisak.
At the TCNJ Aquatic Center on Saturday, the women’s team outswam Kean University. Doyle won the 200-individual medley, clocking in at 2:22.90.
The Lions kept the winning momentum going at the 100-freestyle.
Junior Hailey Thayer claimed first placed and finished in less than a minute at 56.67. Galindo came in second with a time of 1:04.88.
Galindo didn’t stop there — she also won the 100-breaststroke, clocking in at 1:13.69. The freshmen also had impressive performances.
Freshman Elise Fraser snatched first place in the 100-backstroke with a time of 1:06.21. Later on, freshman Darby VanDeVeen took first in the 500-freestyle and clocked in at 5:41.55.
The Lions capped off their successful meet when sophomore Annie Menninger, senior Marta Lawler, sophomore Anna Kisker and Fraser won the 200-freestyle relay with a time of 1:46.08.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will compete at home against conference rival Rowan University on Saturday, Jan. 27. The meet is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. in the TCNJ Aquatic Center.
