The women swimmers of Rochester had two outstanding performances this weekend. In their first meet, Friday afternoon against St. Lawrence University, Rochester won 123-87.
“We swam a very strong meet,” Head Coach Danielle Herring said. “We executed every race, and were very strong off the walls and blocks.”
Rochester won a total of nine events against St. Lawrence, and swam a number of season best times. Among the top performers were freshman Danielle Scherry, who won the 200-yard freestyle and swam a best time in the 500-yard freestyle.
Sophomore Michele Gruen won the 200-yard individual medley and dropped a total of 19 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle.
“It was a very intense race,” Herring said. “Michele swam her best meet up to this point.”
Sophomore Kari Joyce won both the 50-yard and the 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Becky Fallon won the 100-yard backstroke. Freshman Cynthia Arvizo swam a best time in the 50-yard free and was part of the 200-yard medley relay.
“I was very proud of how our athletes performed,” Herring said. “Every one of them gave their all, and the results showed it.”
Freshmen Denise Moseman and Kelly Fischer and sophomore Mary Carol Karl combined to go one, two, three in the 100-yard breastroke.
“All around we had an outstanding meet,” Herring said.
On Saturday, Rochester faced off against Union College.
“[Union] was a strong opponent,” Herring said. “The resolve we showed when we raced them is evidence of the quality of our team.”
Although Rochester swam tired from their meet the previous day, they still swam very good races.
Rochester won a total of seven events, and beat Union 133-109.
Sophomore Karen Gromer, junior Erin Szajta and Scherry were all double winners for Rochester. Gromer won both the 400-yard individual medley and the 200-yard butterfly. Szajta won the 200-yard and 100-yard freestyle, and Scherry won the 1,000-yard and 500-yard freestyle.
Sophomore Abby Hunter swam a season best in the 200-yard backstroke – impressive for having swam a meet just 16 hours before.
Senior Ann Richards gave an outstanding performance in the 500-yard freestyle, picking up some much needed points for Rochester.
“This was an awesome meet for our team,” Herring said. “We swam tired against a very good team, and we came out on top. I’m very happy with our performance.”
The diving team gave another exceptional performance on both Friday and Saturday.
Junior Patricia McHale took first in three out of four events last weekend. Juniors Allison Easton and Crystal Hoffman, sophomores Shannon Kahabka and Kara Nash also performed extremely well.
“[Nash] had by far her best meet of the year,” Head Diving Coach Greg Brandes said. “I was very impressed by the performance of all of our divers. We have a lot of new tricks up our sleeves, and we get better and better every day.”
Rochester’s next meet is at Brandeis University in Boston, Mass.
Nissan can be reached at dnissan@
campustimes.org.
