The women’s swimming and diving team had an opportunity to showcase their depth as the Yellowjackets improved to 3-0 with a 160-83 victory over Union College.
“We killed them,” freshman Michele Gruen said. “Our team had a lot more depth than the opponents, they would have one swimmer in each race and we would have three.”
Gruen placed first in the 500-yard freestyle and 1,000-yard freestyle as well as taking part in the winning 400-yard freestyle relay. Her 1,000-yard time of 11:03.58 was a season-best for the freshman out of Hamden, Conn.
Also performing well for UR was sophomore Erin Sjazta, who won one individual event and swam in two winning relays. Sjazta captured the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 55.92 seconds and took part in the 400-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard medley relay.
“Erin had three lifetime bests, which is always a big accomplishment,” Head Coach Eric Stefanski said. “She has been working extremely hard in practice and found her breakout moment.”
Rounding out the winning relay teams were freshmen Abby Hunter, Mary Carol Karl, and Sonja Brun in the 400-yard medley, finishing with a time of 4:18.54, and Szajta, Gruen, Hunter, and freshman Kari Joyce, clocking a time of 3:48.81 in the 400-yard freestyle.
Also winning single events for the women were freshman Kari Joyce, placing first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:18.01, and senior Liz Fowler, winning the 200-yard individual medley with a 2:18.01 time.
“We were just dominating from the beginning,” said Gruen.
“[Union] are supposed to be a really good, I thought it would be a much harder meet.”
“The meet was a chance for the women to prove their depth and their strength, and well as improve times,” Stefanski said. “It was a very strong performance by all of the women. Individually and as a team, they showed strength within the conference.”
Moving to the divers, Patricia McHale aced the competition, winning both boards easily. Hale scored 215.32 on the one-meter board and 203.25 on the three-meter board.
A young team, the Yellowjackets nonetheless have the depth that is lacking in many competing programs. With a full roster consisting mostly of freshmen and sophomores, the team looks to be in the position to finish with a strong season and continue to gain more experience in the coming years.
Stefanski is looking forward to next week’s tri-meet at home versus Nazareth College and Brandeis University. Neither team should pose too much of a threat to the Yellowjackets, who will likely continue to raise eyebrows as the season progresses.
Schloss can be reached at aschloss@campustimes.org.
