A week after going up against Division I opponents, the Hopkins men's and women's swim teams got a scheduling treat: a return to their own division.
But that doesn't mean they had it easy. The men's team placed second and the women third out of four teams at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational in Pennsylvania. Emory won both the men's and women's competitions, with over 1,000 points on each side.
"We swam against some great competition and the meet was great preparation for our annual December meet," said head coach George Kennedy. "All of us look at this meet as a way to race people we will see later in the year at NCAAs."
The Blue Jays finished the meet with 860 points on the men's side. A highlight for the team was sophomore Ryan Kim, who won three events, the only male swimmer at the meet to do so. Ryan Kim also swam an NCAA B-Cut in the 200-yard backstroke. Joining him on this NCAA list was freshman Colin Kleinguetl, who earned an NCAA B-Cut in the 1650-yard freestyle. His time of 16:26.73 was a personal best for him. Kleinguetl also finished third in the 400-yard individual medley in a time of 4:15.01.
"Even though there were several individuals that swam very well time-wise, all in all everyone pulled together and competitively raced their opponents in their individual events and in the relays," said senior co-captain Stephanie Leaman.
Hopkins had strong performances in the 200-yard breaststroke, taking first, second and third. Senior co-captain Tyler Harris placed first in 2:11.42, sophomore Matt Fedderly was second right behind Harris in 2:11.50, and senior Zane Hamilton took third with a time of 2:11.73.
Senior Sean Kim won the 200-yard butterfly with an NCAA B-Cut of 1:55.00. Sean Kim also placed third in the 100-yard butterfly in 52.41. Sophomore Brad Test placed second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:45.56 and took third in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle
The Blue Jays had two wins in the relay events. In the 400-yard medley relay Ryan Kim, Hamilton, Sean Kim and Test won in 3:31.47, two seconds ahead of Emory's second place team. The other win came in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:36.33. The team was made up of Ryan Kim, Harris, Test and senior Brian Sneed.
The women had 675 points for their third place finish.
"The women, though missing team members due to health issues, swam competitively against their opponents," said Leaman.
Freshman Kristin Cunningham topped the meet for the girls with a 53.9 in her 100-yard freestyle, placing second. Cunningham also placed second in the 50-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.50.
The 400-yard medley relay team of Cunningham, sophomore Erica Pakkala, junior Allie Foster and freshman Jacqueline Rooney finished second in 4:04.70. The 400-yard freestyle team also placed second in 1:41.82 with Cunningham, Rooney, freshman Kate Hansen and senior Kalei Walker leading the way.
Pakkala placed third in the second event of the meet, the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:11.30. She also finished third in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00.75.
Senior co-captain Katie Herbst and senior Carly Benner finished second and third in the 500-yard freestyle, respectively, both earning points for the Jays. Foster placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke and third in the 100-yard breaststroke while sophomore Stephanie Laperle finished second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:17.01.
The third-place finish shows promise for a weary women's team.
"This weekend is always a tough weekend, but the girls swam to the best of their abilities and seemingly by show of times we are just about where we should be right now," said Leaman. "At this point in the season we are all broken down and training for our December meet, but we are definitely keeping our spirits high and kicking into competitive gear."
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