By Christine Houghton
Staff Writer
The men and women’s swimming and diving teams opened their seasons with a New Jersey Athletic Conference matchup against Montclair State University on Saturday, Oct. 26 at home in Packer Hall.
The men’s team came away with a 162-112 victory, while the women’s team fell to 0-1 losing by a score of 168-126.
The men’s team had a successful day highlighted by the 200-meter medley relay team of juniors Derek Kneisel and Harrison Yi and sophomores Andrew Duff and Andrew Thompson taking first place with a time of 1:38.
Kneisel went on to win the 100-meter backstroke at 54.10 and the 100-meter butterfly at 54.50, and Yi later won the 1000-meter freestyle with a time of 10:15. Thompson won the 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter backstroke at 1:59 for both races.
Senior John Gregory won the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.75 and senior Sam Maquet followed close behind Thompson in the 200-meter butterfly at 2:01.
Sophomore Griffin Morgan was able to win three events, including the 200-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley, clocking in at 1:46, 49.98 and 1:59 respectively.
Despite losing the match overall, the women’s team had many individual victories.
The 200-meter medley relay team placed second at 1:53 and was swam by senior Hailey Thayer, juniors Annie Menninger and Kazia Moore and freshman Zoe Chan. Menninger placed first in the 500-meter freestyle with a time of 5:31 and was followed closely by sophomore Melanie Fosko at 5:32.
Chan made a splash during her first collegiate meet, placing first in the 200-meter and 100-meter butterfly events at 2:12.41 and 59.57 respectively. Freshman Kori Jelinek also made her debut taking second in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:20 along with freshman Meagan Healey, who placed second in the 200-meter freestyle at 2:05.20. Sophomore Kelsey Ballard followed close behind Healey, finishing at 2:05.33.
Coming up next for both the men’s and women’s teams is a divisional meet in Mahwah, New Jersey against Ramapo College on Saturday, Nov. 3.
