The UR men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams propelled themselves to solid victories over the Nazareth College Golden Flyers on Saturday, Jan. 10. The men won by a score of 175-110, while the women beat the Flyers by a score of 157-143.These defeats came just one day after both teams lost to SUNY Cortland.
‘We were all pretty tired after the training in Florida, and it was great to show everyone that we could still perform and win meets even though we were broken down,” freshman Vincent Ness said.
On the men’s side, UR had 12 first place and five second place finishes.
‘The team performed really well [considering] how tired we were after our training trip,” freshman Casey Slone, who placed first in the 800 freestyle, said.
Big winners also included Ness, who won three events, sophomore Kevin Howard and junior Chris Jenson, who both won two events.
Individual winners were Slone, freshman Colin Funai and freshman Andy Hagar.
Ness had a strong day in the pool, winning the 100, 200 and 400 freestyle races.
Jenson won the 50 breaststroke in a time of 31.30 and the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:10.72, while Howard won the 100 butterfly and backstroke.
Other victories were clenched by Funai in the 50 butterfly, freshman Wesley Hood in the 50 free and Hagar in the 400 individual medley. The 400 free relay team of Hood, junior Patrick Messmer, Howard and Ness won in 3:48.54.
The women’s team also had an impressive meet against Nazareth after a disappointing loss at SUNY Cortland the day before.
The big story for the women was the 400 free relay. This race was neck-and-neck, but UR managed to pull ahead in the end, touching in at a time of 4:12.44 just two one-hundredths of a second before Naz. The ‘Jackets cemented their victory and broke the pool record in the process. The previous record was 4:13.55, set in 2000.
The winning team was composed of sophomore Callie Caldwell, sophomore Dayna Jacobs, freshman Olivia Ehmann and sophomore Liz Subjeck, who won the 400 free in a time of 4:43.92 and placed second in the 800 free with a time of 9:45.67.
Sophomore Katheryn Lukens also placed well in the 800 free, touching in at 9:50.16 for third.
Freshmen Emily Scott, Bridget Festa and Val Atwood were all double winners.
Scott won the 200 free and the 50 free. She was also second place in the 100 free, touching in at a time of 1:02.76.
Festa got to the wall first in the 50 and 100 breaststroke races.
Atwood won two for the Yellowjackets, clenching the win in the 50 and 100 backstroke with times of 33.24 and 1:09.79, respectively.
The sprints were the big winners for the ladies and also very kind to the men, despite the fact that both teams came off an exhausting training trip and a disappointing meet the night before.
Before the winter break, both teams competed in the Liberty League Championships against Rochester Institute of Technology. The men finished third in the Championships out of seven teams, while the women finished second out of eight teams.
Against the Tigers, both teams won by sizeable margins. The women defeated the Tigers, 177-108, while the men trounced RIT, 163-126.
Next weekend, the teams travel to Ithaca College for the last meet before the University Athletic Association Championships. The UAA Championships will take place in Chicago, Ill. and will be hosted by the University of Chicago.
‘We’re all really pumped to see our hard work pay off at the UAA meet,” Slone said.
Rogers is a member of
the class of 2012.
