This past weekend, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams each suffered a pair of losses in a double dual meet against West Chester University and Johns Hopkins University, but showed some promising individual efforts.
The men's team dropped a 138-230 decision to West Chester and a 127-233 loss to Johns Hopkins, the College's first dual losses of the year, to bring them to 4-2.
"We were a little bit flat and I expected to perform better against these top-ranked teams," head coach Brian Bishop said. "Luckily, these meets have no effect on the end of the year because now we're racing against the clock. Hopefully this gets the mental flatness out of their system and gets them fired up for the upcoming matches."
Although the Lions lost the dual meet, they placed first in four events. Senior captain Steve Swenson took first in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 58.85. Freshman diver Greg Lloyd was a double winner in the dual meet in the one- (291.20) and three-meter (315.80) events.
The Lions also tallied a first- place finish in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:12.85 thanks to junior Kyle King, sophomore Josh Forsman, sophomore Liam Gallagher and freshman Tom Nawrot.
"It was a great swim, ending the meet on a high note with an integral anchor leg from Tom Nawrot, who narrowly touched out our competition," King said. "As a team, all the relays performed at or above expectations, which was a good boost of confidence against hard competition."
Junior George Savulich also came away with a fourth-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 16:53.38, while senior Jeff Glenn placed second in the 100 freestyle in 47.19.
"Overall we had a very good performance, considering we were going up against two other very good squads," King said. "The scores may not have reflected that as much, but we did vell."
The women's team also suffered a 131-218 loss to West Chester and a 126-226 loss to Johns Hopkins, putting them at 1-6 on the year.
"Our focus for this meet is more about individual times rather than points," head coach Jennifer Harnett said. "We are at the point of the season where we are trying to determine who will be competing at the Conference Championship in February for our team. We have 32 girls vying for 18 scoring spots on the Conference Team, so our direct competition will be within our own team."
Leading the way for the Lions was senior Erin Stutz, who won the 400 individual medley in 4:40.25 and the 200 butterfly in 2:12.86 and also participated in the second-place freestyle relay with a time of 3:47.34.
"I was happy with the way I swam and felt good in the water which helps prepare me for future meets such as Rowan and METS (Metropolitan Conference Championships)," Stutz said.
Also on the team were sophomore Ava Kiss, senior Beth Hurley and sophomore Lauren Pfeifer.
In diving, junior Lee Swanson was a double winner in the one- and threemeter events with scores of 281.55 and 281.40, which requalified her for nationals.
Harnett was also particularly proud of freshman Christine deRouville's fourth-place finish in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 36.88.
"A lot of the girls stepped it up a notch this weekend. I was very excited for deRouville because she had missed the team training camp and had to do all of the training on her own," Harnett said.
"She trained just as hard without the team, which shows a lot of commitment."
Kiss finished second in the 200 individual medley in 2:15.38, while freshman Emily Reichard picked up a third-place finish in the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.32.
"I think everyone did well and kept a positive attitude," Stutz said. "Our focus for this meet was on technique, the little things in our stroke and racing so that we can improve on them for future meets. We have really grown and bonded, which will help with team morale in the future, and we expect to fulfill our competitive potential in the next few meets, especially at our conference meet."
Tonight, both the men's and women's swimming teams take on the Profs of Rowan University in the Lions' last home meet of the season at 6 p.m. in the Aquatic Center. Sunday, the College will take on New York University in New York at 1 p.m.
