Finishing up their regular season this past weekend at the home of the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers, both the UR men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams had strong individual and team performances.
The women shined with wins in five individual events, including both boards and one relay, sweeping past the Tigers 157-84. The victory increases the women’s winning streak to five against RIT.
Senior Danielle Scherry was a double winner for the ‘Jackets, with wins in both the 500 and 1,000 freestyle. She beat out the next best swimmer in the 1,000 by over 18 seconds with a time of 10:59.39. She finished in a time of 5:28.53 for the 500. Scherry also placed third in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:07.16.
Other individual winners included senior Denise Moseman, who won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:11.32. Freshman Liz Subjeck placed first in the 200 freestyle, coming in at 2:01.52. Sophomore Nora Hoefer also had a win, grabbing first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:03.96.
Subjeck and Moseman finished second and third in the 500 freestyle behind Scherry with times of 5:29.70 and 5:29.71, respectively. Senior Kelly Fischer and junior Jill Endres came in one right after another behind Moseman in the 100 breaststroke, posting times of 33.65 and 34.74, respectively.
Freshman Cailee Caldwell placed second in the 200 indivdual medley with a time of 2:19.96. Caldwell was followed by fellow freshman Kathryn Lukens, who posted a time of 2:26.15. Caldwell also placed second in the 100 freestyle with a time of 56.68 and was followed by freshman Dayna Jacob, who finished in 56.77. Jacob also placed second in the 50 free with a time of 26.24 and freshman Rachel Boldt came in third with a time of 26.32.
Hoefer placed second with a time of 2:02.64 in the 200 freestyle. Lukens placed second in the 1,000 free with a time of 11:17.81. Freshman Shannon Moss placed third in the 100 backstroke finishing with a time of 1:06.91.
On the boards, sophomore Jaime Sorenson won both the 1-meter and 3-meter. Junior Cheryl Blechman placed third in both events with scores of 175.80 and 179.45 for the 1- and 3-meter boards, respectively.
In the 200 freestyle relay, the team of Hoefer, Jacob, Subjeck and Caldwell finished first with a time of 143.92. They were followed by teammates junior Megan Miller, junior Peggy Mayo, senior Sara Tomaski and sophomore Libby Cavagnaro, who placed second with a time of 1:51.88. The team of Lukens, Fischer, Moss and Boldt placed second in the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:01.05. Following them in third was the team of Mayo, Endres, Tomaski and freshman Tamara De La Loza, who finished with a time of 2:05.16.
It was only a fraction of a second that made the difference in the men’s 126-115 loss to the Tigers. Two events – the 100 freestyle and the 500 freestyle – were decided by hundredths of a second. Despite the defeat, they still tallied some strong performances, including four individual wins and three swept events.
In the 1,000 freestyle, junior Bruce Maki won with a time of 10:14.27. Following Maki were freshman Cole Brown (10:16.53) and sophomore Pat Messmer (10:36.05).
Senior JD Dennison led the sweep of the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.32. Placing second was Maki with a time of 2:04.59 and third was taken by sophomore Garrett Lam with a time of 2:07.55. Freshman Bobby McCue led the way in the 100 breaststroke, coming in first with a time of 1:02.41. Following by only fractions of a second were teammates sophomore Chris Jensen and Brown with times of 1:02.43 and 1:03.12, respectively.
Sophomore Matt Kaule placed first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.46.
McCue also placed second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:47.85. Maki came in second in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:54.91 and was followed by Brown who came in at 5:02.22. Freshman Kevin Howard was second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.65. Howard also took third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.52. Preceding Howard was Lam, who posted a time of 55.29 to place second. Junior Ryan White was second in the 100 free, coming in with a time of 49.76. Balch took third in the 50 freestyle, posting a time of 22.99.
Junior diver David Mitsche took third in both the 1-meter board and the 3-meter board with scores of 179.90 and 168.10, respectively. The 200 medley relay team of Lam, Jensen, Howard and Balch came in second with a time of 1:41.03. They were followed by the team of White, Dennison, Fischer and Kaule who posted a time of 1:43.21 to place third. The 200 freestyle relay team of Balch, sophomore Dan Friel, Dennison and Kaule placed second, with a time of 1:30.41.
The ‘Jackets’ last meet of the season is the University Athletic Association Championships, which UR will be hosting at the Webster Pool Complex from Feb. 20-23.
Belonga is a member of the class of 2010.
