Following a five-week respite, women?s swimming returned to action last Saturday as UR hosted SUNY Potsdam.
In a show of domination, the Yellowjackets rolled to an easy 157-67 victory over the Potsdam Bears. The win improved UR?s season record to 6-1 in dual competition with one meet remaining before University Athletic Association meet and Nationals.
?It was an all-out great team effort,? said assistant coach Mike Humphreys. ?[Potsdam is] a very young team. They just graduated a lot, so they?re down this year.?
Coach Julie Benker also remarked on the importance of the individual performances in this meet. ?We?re trying to figure out who is going to swim relays for UAAs,? she said.
Spearheading the Yellowjackets? campaign were senior co-captain Torrey Podkaminer, junior Kelly Coulehan and freshman Tiffani Siu, each with two top individual-finishes.
Podkaminer posted times of 55.46 seconds and two minutes and one second in the 100-meter freestyle and 200-meter freestyle, respectively while Coulehan had a composite score of 238.35 in one-meter diving and 232.6 in three-meter diving.
Rounding out the group was Siu, who continued this semester where last one left off, with winning times of 1:02 in the 100-meterfly and 2:21 in the 200-meter individual medley.
?We had some of the best times of the season,? said Benker. ?And this is setting us up against [Ithaca College] this Saturday.?
The Yellowjackets also had nota-ble heats from junior Kristin Broderick and sophomore Luciana Law.
In the 500-meter freestyle, Broderick?s 5:31 grabbed first-place while Law?s time of 1:07 produced the same result.
In addition, in the 200-meter medley, a squad of Broderick, Podkaminer, senior co-captain Courtney Pederson and sophomore Jackie Staple was able to garner top marks. They completed the race in 1:57.
RIT
UR hosted its final meet of the fall semester on Dec. 20 against crosstown rival the Rochester Institute of Technology and easily defeated the Tigers 145-81.
Despite the presence of a handful of very good swimmers, the Yellowjackets were able to gain the win through sheer talent.
?We really couldn?t change too much for the meet because of the competition,? said Humphreys.
As in the Potsdam meet, Podkaminer, Coulehan and Siu all came in on top of two races each. For Podkaminer they were the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle, Coulehan the one and three-meter diving and Siu the 200-meter individual medley and 1000-meter free.
Also, Pederson and Broderick individually won the 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter backstroke respectively and members of the triumphant 400-meter medley relay squad which also included junior Emily Cooper and Staple.
The road ahead
This Saturday, the Yellow-jackets will travel to face Ithaca College in their final meet before the UAAs get underway on Feb. 7 in Atlanta.
Currently, the Bombers stand at 8-0 and have historically been be one of UR?s major hurdles.
[This is] ?going to be a really big meet,? said Podkaminer. ?We have never been very competitive with [Ithaca] in the past but we?re much stronger this year and more excited that we?re scaring them. We know they?re nervous.?
[This] ?should be a good meet,? Humphreys concluded.
