By Christine Houghton
Sports Editor
The men and women’s swimming and diving teams swept conference opponent Ramapo College, as the men ended on top 170-91 and the women won 216-46. Both teams improve to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the conference.
The men’s team started the meet off strong, taking two podium spots in the 200-meter medley relay. Freshman Sean Rave and juniors Andrew Thompson, Andrew Duff and Nolan Kuscan swam to gold with a time of 1:36.65.
Thompson swims his laps in the 200-meter medley relay (Photo courtesy of the Sports Information Desk).
Right behind them was the team of freshman Patrick Sullivan, senior Derek Kneisel and juniors Patrick Bakey and Griffin Morgan, who came in second with a time of 1:38.34.
The team also posted a few sweeps, most notably in the 1,000-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly and 50-meter freestyle, in which it took the top four spots.
Senior Harrison Yi took the top spot in the 1,000-meter freestyle with a time of 10:04.57, while Morgan placed first in the 200-meter freestyle, touching the wall at 1:45.27. Rave won the 200-meter butterfly, clocking in at 2:00.05, while Kuscan finished first in the 50-meter freestyle at 22.26.
On the diving board, junior Jay Soukup posted a score of 442.50 on the three-meter board, a score that could qualify him for regionals.
The women’s day started off strong in a relay match as well. In the 200-meter medley relay, sophomores Zoe Chan and Kori Jelinek, freshman Rachel Hannah and junior Chiara Mennonna finished first with a time of 1:51.50.
Senior Annie Menninger and junior Kelsey Ballard placed first and second in the 1,000-meter freestyle, respectfully, with Menninger coming in at 11:16.11 and Ballard touching the wall at 11:26.49. Hannah also won the 200-meter freestyle.
Juniors Elsie Fraser and Darby VanDeVeen finished 1:04.53 and 1:05.84, respectively, in the 100-meter backstroke to claim first and second place. Mennonna followed with a win in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:09.77.
Jelinek won the 200-meter butterfly at 2:16.27, followed by Chan’s victory in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 25.33. The rest of the meet was a full sweep for the Lions, ending in the 200-meter freestyle relay win from the team of junior Melanie Fosko, freshman Shannon Hesse, Hannah and Chan with a time of 1:42.44.
Freshman Gabi Valladares registered regionals-qualifying marks in the diving on her one- and three-meter dives.
The teams return to the pool as they travel to Montclair State University for another meet on Nov. 16, in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.
