The women’s swimming and diving team continued to show their strength with convincing wins over Nazareth College and Brandeis University on Nov. 22. UR improved to 5-0 on the year with a 243-53 win over Nazareth and a 189-108 victory over Brandeis.
“It was another strong performance by the women,” Head Coach Eric Stefanski said. “They continue to show their power within the UAA.”
Last year Brandeis defeated the Yellowjackets in the UAA Championship meet, so this is a clear sign of the turnaround that this year’s squad has made.
Leading the way for the women were senior Liz Fowler and the freshmen trio of Kari Joyce, Karen Gromer and Leah Burn.
Joyce was victorious in three events. She recorded a win in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:00.03. Joyce also took the number one spot in the 100- and 500-yard freestyle events with times of 55.78 and 5:22.65 respectively.
Gromer’s time of 2:13.25 was a season best in the 200-yard butterfly. She recorded a lifetime best in the 400 yard individual medley finishing in 4:49.66. Both times earned Gromer a first place finish.
Burn cleaned up first in the 50 yard sprint freestyle with a time of 25.98. Her time of 1:02.33 was also good enough for first in the 100-yard butterfly.
Fowler was a winner in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events. Fowler posted times of 1:05.53 and 2:18.42 to pick up the wins.
Men’s Results
The meet was not as succesful for the men’s swimming and diving team. Despite their determination the team had to settle with a 1-1 split in the meet. UR defeated Nazareth 226-55 but suffered a 180-108 loss to a talented Brandeis team.
“We swam well, and the majority of our men posted season best times,” Stefanski said.
Notable performances came from freshmen Zach Freed and Craig Matt in the 400 Individual Medley, finishing first and second respectively. Matt also picked up a first in the 1,650 yard freestyle with a time of 17:14.18.
Senior Mike McCormick took first in the 100 butterfly with a time of 53.48. Junior Pete Maxwell was the other individual event winner for UR, taking the 100 backstroke in a time of 55.89.
Sophomore Ted Elton played a big part for UR, sweeping both the one- and three-meter dving events with scores of 206.95 and 185.25.
The next time the Yellowjackets face off against Brandeis will be in the UAA Championships, where UR will look to strike back against Brandeis when it counts the most.
This weekend the men and women’s teams will head to the UCAA Championship meet at Union College, where both teams will have their eyes on a first place finish.
Fitzsimmons can be reached at afitzsimmons@campustimes.org.
