Coming back from a successful training trip over winter break in Florida, both the men’s and women’s swimming teams got back into the pool and came out strong for their first meet in 2019. The women topped Merrimack by a slim margin of 131.5 to 129.5 and handily defeated Maine Maritime by a score of 225 to 25. On the men’s side, the Judges were also victorious, winning over Maine Maritime by a score of 110 to 78.
The women’s win over Merrimack was quite competitive, as the two squads were closely matched. The Judges won seven out of 15 events, ultimately giving them what was needed to secure the win overall. To lead the way, senior Kylie Hermann ’19 was victorious in two freestyle races, recording times of 2:04.81 in the 200 yard race and 5:37.12 in the 500 yard race, winning by just three-tenths of a second and one and a half seconds respectively.
Next, the first-year class shined, as rookie Olivia Stebbins ’22 came out on top in all of her breaststroke events receiving first place in both the 50 and 100 yard with times of 34.12 seconds and 1:12.34 minutes respectively. In butterfly, it was rookie Gazelle Umbay ’22 who beat her nearest opponent by 0.64 seconds to come in first place with a time of 1:04.04. She also came in third place in the 50 yard butterfly sprint with a mark of 29.38 seconds.
Lastly, for the individual events, Claire Xu ’22 topped the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:19.57, with teammate Annie Huang ’21 coming in second 3.5 seconds behind her. As for the relays, Xu, Stebbins, Umbay and fellow rookie Lauren Howard ’22 received first place in the 200 yard medley with a time of 1:56.35, winning by just seven-tenths of a second to their opponents.
On the men’s side, the Judges swept Maine Maritime by winning all 15 events. In the freestyle races, first-year Brendon Lu ’22 won the 1000 yard competition with a time of 10:28.48 while also coming in second in the 500 trailing behind teammate Justin Weissberg ’21 who earned first with a time of 5:14.95. He also received first place in the 200 freestyle, recording a time of 1:56.75. Fellow junior Matthew Arcemont ’21 found success in both the 100 butterfly and backstroke events, seeing times of 55.25 and 57.76 seconds respectively, bringing home two wins for the Judges. In the 100 yard category, rookie Jonathan Ayash ’22 won the breaststroke race in 1:11.89 minutes, while receiving first place in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:22.51.
Lastly, in the individual category, Ian Smith ’22 was victorious in the 50 backstroke and the 100 butterfly, recording times of 28.66 seconds and 1:01.53 minutes respectively. As for the 200 medley relay, Smith, Junhan Lee ’21, Benjamin Francis ’20 and Benton Ferebee ’22 edged out their opponents to secure the win with a time of 1:49.77.
The Judges return to the pool next Saturday to compete in a tri-meet against the hosting Bridgewater State and Keene State.
