The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams hosted New York University and Case Western Reserve University this weekend in its first home meet of the season.
The event was set up as dual meets NYU vs. Case, Case vs. UR and UR vs. NYU. The athletes only competed once in their events and results were paired against individual schools rather than the entire pool of competitors.
Competition opened Friday with five events and finished on Saturday. When the meet concluded, the scoreboard had the men falling to both NYU and Case, and the women defeating Case and losing to NYU. The women especially had an overall solid performance.
‘I think we really showed NYU and Case and hopefully the whole [University Athletic Association] that UR sprinters are something to worry about,” freshman Olivia Ehmann said.
The women started strong and kept momentum through the weekend. Freshman Emily Scott won the 50 and 100 freestyle outright.
Ehmann was also strong individually, coming in second in the 50 freestyle, fourth in the 100 freestyle and fifth in the 200 freestyle. Scott and Ehmann also joined sophomores Dayna Jacob and Rachel Boldt to take first in the 200 freestyle relay.
There were several other impressive women’s feats for UR. On the diving side, junior Jaime Sorenson was first in 1-meter board and second in 3-meter diving. Senior Cheryl Blechman was fifth in the 1-meter and first in the 3-meter.
Encouragement and support were huge factors when the ‘Jackets succeeded this weekend.
‘We had so much spirit, which helped everyone get pumped up for their swims,” Ehmann said.
The men were not quite as fortunate this weekend, but had a solid meet nonetheless.
Veterans and newcomers alike had great swims this weekend, but it was not enough for the men to overcome the strong competition supplied by Case Western and NYU.
Sophomore Kevin Howard led the UR men. Howard had impressive times in the 100 and 200 backstroke, winning both events with times of 55:01 and 2:01:12, respectively. Howard was also on three relay teams. The 200 medley relay team of Howard, junior Chris Jenson, freshman Colin Funai and freshman Wesley Hood placed second.
The men placed well in 3-meter diving, with senior David Mitsche placing second. In the 1-meter diving event, Mitsche finished in fourth place.
UR will pick up competition again on Nov. 15, when it hosts Union College for the Students’ Association ‘Fill Fauver/Pack the Palestra” event.
Rogers is a member of the class of 2012.
