On Friday, Dec. 4 and Saturday, Dec. 5, the UR women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams both earned the title of Liberty League Champions in a grueling meet held in the Speegle-Wilbraham Aquatic Complex. 10 teams competed for this title in the women’s competition, while nine competed in the men’s.
The Yellow Jacket’s women’s team edged out second place team Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), scoring 1885.5 points to their 1621.5 points, and demolished third-place team, Union College, who scored 763 points in total. The men’s team had an equally impressive performance, out-swimming second-place RPI 1926-1751, and crushing third-place RIT who scored 907.5 points in all.
On the women’s side, senior Lauren Bailey put up an impressive performance. Bailey earned a first-place finish in each of the seven events in which she competed. She also broke her own previously held Liberty League record in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:08.34 and earned the title of Liberty League Women’s Swimmer of the Year.
Another standout performer in the competition was sophomore diver Danielle Neu. Neu placed first in the three-meter board and second in the one-meter board and earned the Women’s Diver of the Year title.
Top performers on the men’s team include freshman Gunnar Zemering, senior Patrick Davis, and junior Dylan Sharkey.Davis and Sharkey both won two individual events, with Davis taking the gold in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke, and Sharkey earning first in the 400 individual medley and the 200 free.
Zemering fared equally well in his first Liberty League Championship meet. He out-touched his opponents in both sprint freestyle events, the 50 free and 100 free, and earned the title of men’s Rookie of the Year.
This win brings the women’s team to their sixth straight Liberty League Title and the men’s to their third Liberty League Title in the past four years. The YellowJackets hope to build on this strong performance when they take on Ithaca College on Jan. 12, 2015.
Cozen is a member of the class of 2015.
