The women’s swimming team swam their way to victory this past weekend against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a final score of 136-102.
The Yellowjackets had a slow start, but picked it up as they became acclimated to the new season.
“RPI was really gunning us, but as expected we didn’t really have any problems,” senior Erin Szajita said. “The first relay was a bit of a wake-up call, but after that we bumped up the intensity and pulled it together.”
Indeed, a UR team consisting of freshman Megan Savoury, sophomore Kelly Fischer, Szajita and junior Kari Joyce fell well short of first place in the 400-yard medley relay. They trailed RPI by over six seconds. UR bounced back after realizing that they needed to pick up their game. Joyce redeemed herself through wins in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard free by at least one second each.
“I was able to outswim some pretty talented competitors from RPI in the 50-yard and 100-yard free,” Joyce said.
Sophomore Danielle Scherry garnered wins in longer races. She swam to first place in the 200-yard free at a time of 2:04.58 and the 500-yard free at a time of 5:28.34.
Scherry, last winter’s Rookie of the Year, is not afraid of competition, treating every race with confidence.
“I treat each event as a race,” Scherry said. “No matter what happened in practice or previous events, you just have to go after it.”
Freshman Michelle Gruen joined the winning squad with a win in the 1,000-yard free with a time of 11:05.17.
Senior Kathryn Monti deserved no less praise with her win in the 200-yard individual medley with a close two second win at a time of 2:24.99. Monti also recorded 1:05.08 in the 100-yard butterfly, trailing RPI’s Sara Orndorff by less than one second.
Savoury represented UR’s backstroke forefront by placing second in the 100-yard back at a time of 1:07.28.
The team of Gruen, Scherry, Monti and Szajta clocked an impressive 3:57.47 in the 400-yard free. Patricia McHale stood tall in both diving events, scoring a 226.95 on the one-meter board and a 211.73 on the three-meter board.
Monti was glad to see a successful start to the season.
“It was a good starting point to see where the girls team needed to improve and what each team member should work on in practice,” Monti said. “It also allowed our coaching staff to see what events the freshmen should swim in the upcoming harder meets.”
The team is eager to battle more competitive teams as the winter season continues.
“We look forward to stronger competitors later in the season, especially SUNY Geneseo in two weeks,” Joyce said.
Lee can be reached at alee@campustimes.org.
