Although UR women won five of the first six swimming events and won six overall events, the Yellowjackets experienced defeat for the first time on Saturday, losing 134-109 defeat to Ithaca College.The defeat came after UR won nine consecutive dual meets this season. This was UR’s first loss this season after nine dual meet wins.Karen Gromer won three events for the Yellowjackets, finishing first in the 400 IM (4:48.19), the 200-yard butterfly (2:15.47), and the 400-yard freestyle (5:23.80). Kari Joyce won the 200-yard free (1:59.52) and finished second in the 100-yard free (0:54.70). Joyce swam on Rochester’s winning 400-yard medley relay (4:12.59) with Mary Carol Karl, Leah Burn, and Erin Szajta. Burn produced a thrilling victory in the 50 free, winning by five one-hundredths of a second (0:25.58). Karl was second in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:34.67). Liz Fowler was third in the 200-yard backstroke (2:21.67) while Ann Richards was third in the 1,000-yard freestyle (11:24.51). Szajta was third in the 100-yard freestyle (0:58.01) and swam on the 400-yard free relay which finished second (3:55.65). Swimming in the relay were Michelle Gruen, Sara Silbernaller, and Keika Campbell. Patricia McHale finished third on the one-meter (211.60) and three-meter (209.15) boards. Ithaca was led by senior diver Kristen Shorette, who met two NCAA qualifying standards with a 258.35 score in the one-meter, and a 257.50 score in the three-meter. It is the third time she has met the three-meter qualifying cut this year. Senior Megan Hughes added her 14th and 15th individual wins of the season with a time of 11:00.41 in the 1,000-yard freestyle, and a time of 54.48 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle. Other winners for the Bombers included senior Michelle Yellin in the 200-yard backstroke (2:16.97), and senior Lindsay Monk in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:32.64). The Ithaca Bombers are now 10-1, while the Yellowjackets fell to 9-1 as a result of the loss. UR next travels to Atlanta for the UAA Championships hosted by Emory.
Despite freshman Zach Freed breaking of an 18-year-old school record on Saturday, but the UR men swimming and diving team was still routed by Ithaca College 178-63. Pete Maxwell and Freed had UR’s only two individual victories of the day. Rochester finished the dual meet season with a 5-4 record. Freed’s record-breaking performance came in the 1,000-yard freestyle. He finished in 10:04.33, which was good enough for second place. That broke the record of 10:07.92 set by Derek Brennan in 1986. Freed won the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:24.67. Maxwell was first in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 0:49.14. Craig Matt was second in the 200-yard free coming in at 1:48.43, the 200-yard fly with a time of 2:01.73, and third in the 500-yard free at 4:57.95. Eric Schweigert swam fourth in the 50-yard free with a time of 0:23.34. Daniel Linge was fourth in the 200-yard backstroke at 2:10:32 and Alex Provan was fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke coming in 2:29.00.On the boards, Ted Elton was second on the one-meter board, attaining a score of 223.75 and second on the three-meter board with a final score of 195.05. The Ithaca Bombers wrapped up an undefeated dual-meet season for the second time in three years with the win over the Yellowjackets. Ithaca won 11 of the meet’s 13 events. Senior Ryan Orser led the way with victories in three events. Orser won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.88 and was a member of two winning relay teams. Joining Orser on the winning 400-yard freestyle relay team were seniors Sean Kavanaugh and Sasha Kuznezov, and freshman Josh Tayrien. The team finished with a time of 3:20.97. Kavanaugh also won the 200-yard butterfly at 2:01.10, while Kuznezov finished first in the 200-yard freestyle coming in at 1:45.51. Senior Mike Furstoss and junior Steve Barnes also tallied two wins for Ithaca. Furstoss took both the one-meter and three-meter diving events with scores of 248.90 and 241.50, respectively. Barnes won the 500-yard and 1,000-yard freestyle events with scores of 4:48.20 and 9:55.41, respectively. Other winners for the Bombers included sophomore Miguel Escobedo in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:04.720 and freshman Mark Tedeschi in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:18.76. The Yellowjackets’ next competition will be in the UAA Championships in Atlanta.Tipton can be reached at rtipton@campustimes.org.
