Hannah Bazarian, Photo Editor
The men and women’s swimming and diving squads made a splash on Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29, when they hosted a quad meet against University Athletic Association rivals Carnegie Mellon University, New York University and Case Western Reserve University.
On Friday, the women posted the fastest times in the 400-yard medley relay, the 1650-yard freestyle, the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay. The men took the 400-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Freshman Emily Friedline, who was the only individual winner on the day for UR, was excited to compete in her first collegiate-level swim meet.
“The atmosphere is awesome because of how supportive and enthusiastic the team is. The intensity of the meet also made it a really exciting meet to be a part of,” Friedline said. “It was a great feeling to win the 1650 because it gave me a confidence boost and made me want to keep working harder to get better.”
According to coach Peter Thompson, the team went into Saturday’s races with new confidence from the first place finishes the night before.
“On paper, we thought we were going to be very competitive on both sides,” Thompson said. “But after last night, we knew.”
The women’s team showed outstanding commitment and focus in topping NYU (204-166) and Case (216-154). Despite losing to Carnegie in this first encounter, (168-200) the women’s team is looking forward to facing the tough competitors again at UAAs in February.
On the men’s side, for the first time in men’s swimming history, the Yellowjackets overpowered NYU (194-174), though they came up short against Carnegie (173-195) and Case (159-205).
Despite the scores, there’s a surplus of promising talent on this year’s squad. Friedline won the 1650 yard freestyle in 18:05.99, while classmate James Frauen won the 100 yard backstroke (54.33 seconds) and freshman Theresa Xu posted a win in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing at 5:17.72. Freshmen Lauren Bailey and Brian Wong both won the 100 yard butterfly, with times of 59.30 and 51.41 in their respective races.
“We clearly are a team to be reckoned with,” Thompson said. “Our women are 2-1 in the conference. Our men beat NYU for the first time ever. We know we are a team to be reckoned with and now other teams know that, too.”
The Yellowjackets will be away when they take on Union at their next swim meet on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m.
Holden is a member of the class of 2013.
