The Johns Hopkins Men's and Women's Swimming teams continued their successful seasons with victories over their competition from Franklin & Marshall last Friday at home.
The men's team won all 11 events in its meet to notch a decisive 120-72 win over the Diplomats and to improve their season record to 7-3.
"The meet went well; I thought there were some pretty solid swims," said sophomore Matt Chana, who won the 1650-meter freestyle in a time of 16:24.22.
Hopkins started out the meet strong, as a relay team consisting of seniors Scott Pitz, Loren Robinson, Matt McKee and Kyle Robinson took the 200-meter medley in 1:38.94. Sophomore Zane Hamilton won the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:46.37 and junior Paul Zalewski took first place in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.70 soon after the relay win.
Sophomore Sean Kim continued the string of Blue Jay victories by coming in first in the 400-meter individual medley in 4:13.39. Junior J.P. Balfour was the next Hopkins swimmer to come out on top, claiming the 100-meter butterfly in 52.47. Kyle Robinson took home his second victory of the evening, winning the 100-meter freestyle in 43.37.
The Blue Jays finished the meet as strong as they started it, winning the 200-meter freestyle relay with a team composed of Kyle Robinson, sophomore Tyler Harris, Hamilton and Zalewski.
Even though the meet was lopsided, it was still a good chance for the team to compete, as the swimmers prepare for conferences and nationals.
"Every time we go out there, it's a good chance to race," said senior co-captain Oliver Buccicone. "And the team did a pretty good job at that."
"Dual meets are an opportunity to race not just against the other team but also against your own teammates," said Chana. "Competing against one another can actually bring a team closer together and it allows us to push each other to swim our best."
The commanding victory was the men's seventh of the season. Their three losses have all been to D-I teams.
"Our men graduated a super class[last year], but everyone came back with the desire to improve," said head coach George Kennedy. "They swam during the summer and came here in great shape."
The Lady Jays also beat the Diplomats by a score of 111-89. This win improved the team's record to 6-4 on the year.
Hopkins set the pace for the meet with a win in the 200-meter medley relay in 1:31.73. The winning team was comprised of sophomores Sida Liu, Jessica Chang, Abiona Redwood and junior Diana Smirnova.
"Our relays are really strong," said Chang. "I don't think we have ever used the same team twice for a relay. We have so many people capable of swimming them and so much talent on this team."
Sophomore distance swimmer Stephanie Leaman then snagged the 1650-meter freestyle in 18:11.31 to extend the Blue Jays' early lead. The Diplomats answered back, however, winning the 200-meter freestyle to narrow Hopkins' advantage to 32-23. Redwood gave the Blue Jays a bit of a cushion by winning the 50-meter freestyle in 25.16.
After Franklin & Marshall won the 400-meter individual medley, Smirnova pulled the Jays back on track by winning the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:00.02. Redwood extended the Blue Jays' lead by winning her second individual event, the 100-meter freestyle in 54.97. She accredited her success to hard work and the encouragement of her teammates. "This team is competitive, but we are happy for people when they do well. We always support each other.".
Franklin & Marshall threatened again by winning the 100-meter backstroke, but Hopkins finished off the meet with a win in the 200-meter freestyle relay in 1:50.00. A team of junior Betsy Maragakes, Walker, sophomore Carly Benner, and Leaman took the event to seal the victory for the women's team.
"We did really well," said Redwood. "We did not all get our best times, but we are right where we want to be at this point in the season."
"The women's team is performing very well," said Kennedy."We have more quality and depth than in the past, and the general attitude seems to be very good."
Both the men's and women's teams will be competing in their final dual meet of the season on Saturday at 11 a.m. when they host the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. UMBC is a Division I school, so both teams anticipate hotly-contested races.
"It's a pretty big meet for us," said Buccicone. "They are on par with Navy and we almost beat Navy earlier this season, so it should definitely be a close meet."
"Our freshmen are very good, and our returning swimmers have come back in great shape so we expect strong showings in our final meets," said Chana. "We already have a number of guys who have qualified for Nationals and we are hoping to get more at these last few meets."
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