Women’s swimming and diving takes first, men second
By Rachel Eggleston
Published on Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Big Green women divers had first place finishes in both the one- and three-meter events in a quad-meet last weekend.
The Dartmouth women's swimming and diving team snagged first place while the men finished second to Boston College at last weekend's quad-meet against Boston College, the University of Maine and the University of Rhode Island. Both the men's and women's diving teams took first place in all of the diving events.
The women's team (4-7, 1-5 Ivy) won five individual swimming events, and the men (2-10, 0-6 EISA) were victorious in four. Big Green relay wins included the women's 200-yard medley and the men's 800-yard freestyle.
Maddie Steiner '11 and Mickey Ahern '12 both agreed that Boston College was the Big Green's biggest competition going into the meet.
"We knew that if we had a good meet we could probably get them, and we did," Steiner said of the women's team.
The women's team started off the meet with a win, narrowly edging out two Boston College teams in the 200-yard medley relay. Galen Barry '12, Caitlin Keenan '12, Kelsey Pinson '12 and Caitlin Nicholson '12 finished with a time of 1:51.85. Pinson, Steiner, Elizabeth Kamai '12 and Hillary Preston '09 also finished first in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:32.77.
Steiner also won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:08.76 and the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:30.06. Steiner said she was most excited about her performance in the 200-yard IM, because she notched a lifetime best.
Other Big Green individual wins included Nicholson taking the 100-yard butterfly in 59.61, Anna Sonstegard '11 with a first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly and Carolyn Rippe '10 with a victory in the 200-yard backstroke.
The men's team came in first in the 800-yard freestyle relay, defeating second-place Boston College in the race by more than a five-second margin. John Hill '12, Jack Driessen '12, Zak Clare-Salzler '12 and Bill Haley '11 came out on top in 7:00.12.
Ahern, Hill and Jonathan Panzl '11 all secured individual wins for the Big Green. Ahern won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.74 and the 200-yard backstroke in 1:55.38. Panzl won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:55.38 and Hill won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.07.
Both diving teams took first in each event, and the women swept the three-meter dive. Erica Serpico '12 took home first place for both women's diving events, winning the one-meter with a score of 232.90 and the three-meter with a score of 248. Serpico beat Boston College sophomore Devon Kelly by 11.35 points in the one-meter dive. Kathleen Brady '10 trailed Kelly by just .95 points, claiming third place in the event.
Brady also finished second in the three-meter dive, and Bridget Duffey '11 finished third, giving the Big Green the one-two-three sweep for the event.
Chris Plante '12 won the men's one-meter dive with a score of 280.65, and Mike Brown '11 won the three-meter event with a score of 302.40. Plante and Brown also had second-place finishes in the three-meter and one-meter events, respectively.
Ahern said he was happy with the results of the meet, but excited to get back in the pool.
"We had a couple big wins and a couple really tough losses, but all together everyone swam really well," he said. "I think it brought us closer as a team."
Steiner said she hopes to see more teammates supporting each other during meets.
"I think we learned this weekend that we could probably do a better job cheering each other on," she said.
The women's team will take on Northeastern University at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday at home in the Karl Michael Pool. Both teams then return to the pool for a Valentine's Day home matchup against Columbia at 12:00 p.m. on Feb. 14.