Swimming handles F&M

Both the Men's and Women's Swimming teams earned convincing victories over Franklin & Marshall last week, to earn their first wins of the season.

On the road in Lancaster, PA, the Blue Jays were dominant, with the Men's team winning by a score of 133-60 and the Women's team winning 126-73.

The victory came after the Men's team suffered a disappointing loss to Navy on Friday.

But there was little wrong with the team's performance on Saturday, as freshmen led the charge.

Freshman Brian Sneed won two events for the Men's team, the 200 meter and 500-meter freestyle.

His times were 1:47.01 and 4:51.08, respectively. Freshman Sean Kim won the 100-meter butterfly in 54.52. Matthew Chana, another freshman, won the 1000-meter freestyle in 9:59.93.

Not to be outdone, veteran Blue Jays contributed as well.

Sophomore J.P. Balfour won the 100 backstroke in 54.27. Junior Kyle Robinson took the 100-meter freestyle in 48.09 and sophomore Jon Kleinman won the 200-meter individual medley in 2:03.93.

The Jays also won the 200-meter medley relay behind the strong swimming of Kim, freshman Caleb Groff, sophomore Paul Zalewski and junior Matt McKee.

The Women's team was equally impressive in their victory.

Senior Stephanie Harbeson was the hero for the Lady Jays, by winning the 200-meter freestyle in 1:58.27 and the 500-meter freestyle in 5:16.57.

Freshman Stephanie Leaman, Sida Liu and Abiona Redwood secured victories in the 1000-meter freestyle, the 100-meter butterfly, and the 50-meter freestyle, respectively.

Sophomore Michelle Phillips captured the 100-meter freestyle in 55.96 and Diana Smirnova managed to win the 200-meter individual medley in 2:15.27.

The team's 200-meter medley relay team comprised of junior Megan Rudinsky, freshman Kristin Stepaniak and Philips took their race in 1:52.24.

The Hopkins' victory came at the right time for the Men's team who opened the season on Friday with a disappointing loss to Navy in Annapolis, MD.

In that meet, the Jays were able to stay close, behind the strong swimming of senior Scott Armstrong, who won the 800-meter freestyle and the 400-meter freestyle, but they failed to come away with a victory.

In the losing effort, Kim had an impressive performance as well, winning the 200-meter butterfly.

Seniors Justin Brannock, David Lofthus and junior Scott Pitz each won races as well.

The Jays won the 100-meter freestyle, the 200-meter backstroke, and the 200-meter breaststroke, respectively.

Despite their successes -- the Jays managed to win seven of 13 events --the team still failed to muster a victory.

As a result, the Jays left without a victory.They had won last year 121-84, and had hoped to make it two in a row.

All in all, however, the Jays seemed more than willing to understand that the loss was a constructive one.

"I'm not disappointed because we all swam our hardest. We gave them a good meet," said Kim.

Losing to Navy was not without precedent, however. Prior to last year, Navy had won all of the 28 dual meets held with the two schools.

The Blue Jays know that they must maintain their determination to accomplish the lofty goals that they have set for themselves this season.

"We want to win Nationals this year. Our goal is to stay together and support each other," said Kim.

Now, the Jays will focus their attention to their weekend contests. The Jays will send half of their squad to Loyola to compete against Syracuse on Friday and Saturday, while the rest of the team will take on the University of Maryland Terrapins on Friday.