After escaping to Key West, Fla. for winter training, the men’s and women’s swim teams felt ready to face SUNY-Geneseo Tuesday, Jan. 15. Despite returning to UR stronger and more united, the men dropped to Geneseo 138-97 and the women fell 130-102.
“Geneseo was not one of our best swim meets,” junior captain Christina DeVries said. “We had just come off a physically and mentally draining training trip, and it showed in the pool.”
Despite the loss, the women posted some highlights. Sophomore Kim Hampton posted a personal best in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:27:01, placing fourth behind winner junior Kristin Broderick with a time of 2:20:38. Broderick also swam to a victory later in the meet in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:15:70.
Other winners in the women’s race included senior Katie Stiefel in diving and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of DeVries and freshmen Kim Bouch, Anne Podkaminer and Jenn Salati.
On the men’s side of the deck, sophomore Ryan Montgomery led the Yellowjackets in the effort. Montgomery placed first in both the 200-yard and 100-yard free with times of 1:52:24 and 49:92. Montgomery also joined sophomores Mark Radloff, Mike McCormick and Brian Immerman in the 400-yard medley relay victory.
Other first place finishes from the Yellowjackets included Radloff in the 200-yard breast with a time of 2:16:36 and the 400-yard freestyle relay squad of junior Mike Reinhardt, sophomore Mike Tynan and freshmen Chris Preston and Alex Provan. The relay clocked a winning time of 3:30:79.
Despite the Geneseo loss and the exhaustion from training, senior captain Brad Vdovjak pointed out the reward of the winter training process.
“The team left with a better relationship than we had [when we] arrived,” Vdovjak said. “The positive attitudes were essential for the trip’s success.”
“The coaches challenged us at every practice and we met their challenges head on with great effort,” DeVries said.
“We are all stronger swimmers because of the trip [and] I expect great swims at UAAs.”
But coming up next for the Yellowjackets is Ithaca College this Saturday at home and DeVries predicts strong competition.
“Ithaca has always been a tough competitor,” she said. “It will be a good meet before UAAs to see some really fast competition, making us push ourselves and ultimately see what we can do.”
Wu can be reached at jwu@campustimes.org.
