By Christine Houghton
Sports Editor
On Saturday, Feb. 2, the swimming and diving teams took on William Paterson University in a home dual meet. Both teams came out on top with the men’s final score being 194-79 and the women finishing at 168-90.
For the men, seniors Alex Skoog, Angelo Stefani, Brendan Pilaar and Sam Maquet placed first in the 20-meter medley relay with a time of 1:38.43. The 4x200-meter relay team of sophomores James Keane, Griffin Morgan, Kai Michaud and Stephen Walsh placed first at 1:31.99. Sophomore Jay Soukup had an eventful day in the diving well, putting up scores of 491.93 in the one-meter dive and 513.68 in the three-meter dive.
Placing first and second in the 1000-meter freestyle, Keane swam a time of 10:14.65 and DJ DeSomma came in close behind at 11:00.18. Sophomore Andrew Duff took first in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 59.91 and junior Eli O’Connor placed second with a time of 1:02.04. In the 200-meter freestyle, Skoog placed first with a time of 1:44.82 and Morgan followed close behind in second, clocking in at 1:54.40. Junior Harrison Yi took the top spot in the 100-meter backstroke, touching the wall at 55.51, while freshman Joe Om placed second with a time of 56.90.
Sophomore Andrew Thompson won the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:55.97 and Maquet took a close second, clocking in at 1:56.81. Thompson also took the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 1:58.88. Yi placed first in the 50-meter freestyle, clocking in at 22.26 Junior Derek Kneisel came in second .34 seconds later. Kneisel then came in first in the 500-meter freestyle at 4:59.21.
Sophomore Patrick Bakey swam to first in the 100-meter freestyle, putting up a time of 49.18, while Morgan took first in the 200-meter butterfly at 53.16. Skoog placed first in the 200-meter backstroke, touching the wall at 1:56.88, while Duff won the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:16.76.
For the women, the 200-meter medley relay team of sophomore Anna Kisker and juniors Samantha Askin, Kazia Moore and Annie Menninger placed first with a time of 1:57.82. The 200-meter freestyle team of seniors Maddie Hyonski, Gabi Denicola, Hailey Thayer and Courtney Thompson took first, clocking in at 1:50.10. In the 200-meter freestyle, sophomore Melanie Fosko placed first at 2:04.14 and Moore followed close behind in second at 2:06.47. In the 1000-meter freestyle, sophomore Darby VanDeVeen took first and freshman Kori Jelinek took second with times of 11:40.14 and 11:50.13 respectively.
Hyonski placed first in the 100-meter breaststroke at 1:16.67 and sophomore Nicki Meskin took first in the 200-meter butterfly, touching the wall at 2:23.14. Winning the 50-meter freestyle, sophomore Kelsey Ballard finished at 26.78. Thayer took first in the 100-meter freestyle, clocking in at 57.86.
Meskin also won the 100-meter butterfly at 1:04.45, while Jelinek took home the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:22.80. Denicola took first in the 500-meter freestyle, clocking in at 5:29.19.
Winning the 200-meter backstroke, Elise Fraser swam a 2:22.06, while Fosko also took first place in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:38.66.
The Lions return to the pool on Feb. 22 for the three-day Metropolitan Conference Championships.
