By George Tatoris
Sports Editor
The men’s and women’s swimming teams beat New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rivals, the Ramapo College Roadrunners, on Saturday, Nov. 5. The men’s team won a decisive victory of 159-98, while the women’s team won 142-118. The diving team did not compete at the meet.
Sophomore Alex Skoog showed that he was a Renaissance man in the water by winning both the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:07.24 and the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:57.23.
Skoog was also the first leg in the 200-yard medley relay race. Joining him in the water were seniors Scott Vitabile and Andrew Nesbitt and junior Adam Coppola. Together, they conquered Ramapo with a combined time of 1:38.66.
Nesbitt and Coppola swept the 100-yard freestyle, finishing first with a time of 48.37 and second with a time of 49.97, respectively. Coppola finished first with a time of 54.36 in the 100-yard backstroke, as well. Nesbitt, his medley teammate, won the Lions first in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:57.69. Just behind him with a time of 1:57.75, was sophomore Samuel Maquet.
Freshman Harrison Yi hit the wall first in both the 200-freestyle with a time of 1:46.26 and the 500-free with a time of 4:54.55. Nesbitt took second in the 200-free with a time of 1:49.70. Yi also showed his versatility by winning the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:54.55.
Vitabile, Skoog, junior Phil Binaco and freshman David Madigan showed no fatigue when they combined to win the last event of the evening — the 400-yard freestyle relay. The quartet finished with a time of 3:17.36.
Just as Skoog won the 1000-free for the men, sophomore Gabi Denicola did so for the women with a time of 11:17.59. Denicola also finished first in the 500-free with a time of 5:31.00.
The Lions took the top two spots in the women’s 20-yard backstroke. Senior Brenna Strollo took first with a time 2:12.20 while junior Jillian Galindo followed with a time of 2:16.29. Strollo was also just a fraction of a second behind a Roadrunner in the 100-back, finishing just shy of the first place time of 1:02.67 with her own time of 1:03.35.
The Lions saw another twofer in the 200-yard butterfly. Junior Debbie Meskin took first with a time of 2:22.22 and fellow junior Cassidy Bergeron followed with a time of 2:30.13.
The last one-two finish came in the 200-yard breaststroke. Junior Marta Lawler finished first with a time of 2:34.44, and freshman Annie Menninger, with a time of 2:36.28, was close behind.
Strollo, Lawler, Meskin and junior Allison Huber were runner-ups in the 200-yard medley relay by only three seconds to Ramapo’s A team.
The swimming and diving teams enter the water again Friday, Nov. 11, and Saturday, Nov. 12, when they will compete against top-class teams at the Princeton Invitational. Princeton’s facilities are familiar to the Lions, who competed in a non-scored scrimmage there on Friday, Oct. 14.
