By Christine Houghton
Sports Editor
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams traveled to Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday, Oct. 26, to kick off their 2019-20 season. Both teams came out on top, with the men taking the day 171-91 and the women winning 164-97.
Starting off the day for the men, the 200-meter relay team of freshman Sean Rave and juniors Andrew Duff, Andrew Thompson and Griffin Morgan took the win with a time of 1:34.07. Morgan also took the 1,000-meter freestyle with a time of 10:01.37 and the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:55.09.
Thompson continued his success by swimming to first in the 100-meter freestyle at 47.77 and the 100-meter butterfly at 51.08. Rave also won the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 52.75 and the 200-meter backstroke at 1:56.33. Morgan, Thompson and Rave would go on to sweep the board in the 200-meter individual medley, coming in at 1:58.45, 1:59.63 and 2:01.75, respectively.
Senior Harrison Yi and freshman Dixon Kahler took first and second place in the 200-meter freestyle, with Yi coming in at 1:44.79 and Kahler finishing with a time of 1:45.97. Yi also won the 500-meter freestyle with a time of 4:52.52 and was followed by freshman Conrad Hoody, who came in at 4:54.56.
Juniors Patrick Bakey and Nolan Kuscan placed first and second in the 50-meter freestyle, coming in at 22.05 and 22.17, respectively.
For the women’s team, the tone for the day was also set with a relay team. The 200-meter medley relay team consisting of freshman Rachel Hannah, senior Annie Menninger, sophomore Zoe Chan and junior Elise Frasier swam to victory at 1:52.94.
Menninger also took first in the 100-meter breaststroke at 1:10.63, as well as in the 200-meter breaststroke, where she clocked in at 2:33.10. Chan claimed victory in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:11.38 and shared the podium with junior Melanie Fosko in 200-meter individual medley. Chan came in first at 2:13.45 and Fosko followed at 2:22.93.
Fosko swims to the podium in the 200-meter individual medley (Photo courtesy of the Sports Information Desk).
Hannah claimed the top spot in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 55.81 and was followed closely by freshman Shannon Hesse, who touched the wall at 57.59. Hannah also won the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:02.99 and was followed closely by sophomore Meagan Healey, who clocked in at 1:04.11.
Freshman Cameron Carrazza made her collegiate debut, as she swam to victory in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:02.62. The team rounded out the day with a full sweep in the 200-meter backstroke, as Healey took the top spot with a time of 2:17.86. She was followed by junior Katie Doyle and sophomore Julia Spanfelner, who touched the wall at 2:21.02 and 2:22.76, respectively.
The teams return to the pool on Saturday, Nov. 2, when they will host Ramapo College for their first New Jersey Athletic Conference event of the year.
