“The meet was a really good opportunity to get up and race early in the seaso and especially to try out new events,” senior Joelle Milov said. “It was a good learning event for us since racing is definitely a learning process.”
The women’s team clocked top finishes in the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley (IM) and 200-yard freestyle relay, among many others. Meanwhile, the No. 23 men’s team turned in a top time in every event but one, completely dominating the competition over the weekend.
Senior Doug Lennox captured all eyes during the invitational, as he took first in all of his events. Lennox first took part in the 200-yard freestyle relay along with teammates junior Chris Quemena, freshman Colin Cordes and senior Michael Carter. The team turned in a time of one minute, 24.26 seconds, a half-second faster than its closest competitors — the Princeton B relay team — and both foursomes finished almost a full two seconds ahead of all other competitors. Lennox then went on to win the 200-yard IM by a full second with a time of 1:47.86, with the next best eight times coming from other Tigers. Lennox dominated despite not competing in the butterfly, the stroke in which he usually specializes.
Senior Robert Griest led the way in the 500-yard freestyle A final, turning in the top time of 4:37.37. Sophomore Pat Biggs, who did not compete in the finals, turned in the fastest time of the day during preliminaries, a quick 4:35.59, more than enough to have won the finals.
The freshman tandem of Charlie Wang and Jon Christensen, along with seniors Lennox and Carter, secured the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:25.03, more than 10 seconds faster than any other team. Carter also posted the top time in the 100-yard butterfly, while Christensen posted the top time during the 100-yard breaststroke prelims.
Juniors Daniel Dickerson and Michael Papageorge led the way for the divers, finishing first and second respectively in the one-meter event.
The women’s swimming and diving team also brought the speed, with junior Courtney Kilkuts winning the 200-yard IM in 2:04.05 and sophomore Megan Waters clinching the 50-yard free in 23.45. Freshmen Jillian Altenburger and Aislinn Smalling also posted the fastest times in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle prelims, respectively.
“We had a couple of exciting swims from the freshmen, and it was nice to see how they adapted and stepped to the challenge of college racing,” Milov said. “We had good swims, which is a good harbinger for the rest of the season.”
Sophomore Ming Ong led the way for the distance swimmers in the 500-yard free, turning in a 5:00.49, the second-fastest time of the meet. Following right behind her was Smalling with a 5:03.73. Senior Monika Friedman notched a 5:03.52 in the same event’s B final.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Waters, Kilkuts, sophomore Emily Trautner and senior Justina Di Fazio edged its opponents by a mere 10th of second to win its event, while the 400-yard medley relay of freshman Mary Killian, Kilkuts, Friedman and Waters came in third with a time of 3:58.33. Waters showed her sprinting depth throughout the meet, turning in top times in the butterfly and backstroke events.
While Kilkuts did not compete in the 400-yard IM final, she delivered the fastest time of the day during prelims, clocking a 4:28.15. Sophomore Nicole McAndrew came in fourth during prelims, turning in a 4:40.23, but she also did not compete in finals.
In diving, senior Katie Giarra took second in the one-meter event and clinched the three-meter competition with a score of 267.35. Senior Shelby Rudd was close behind, coming in fourth in both events.
The weekend meet gave the Tigers an opportunity to tune up and get focused for the start of the regular season.
“It was a really good start to the season, with some really strong swims,” Milov said. “We’re going to use the momentum that we built last week for this coming weekend against Penn and Cornell.”
The men’s and women’s teams will host EISL and Ivy foes Penn and Cornell in the first home meet of the season this weekend, as they hope to defend their winning traditions at DeNunzio Pool.
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