The Hopkins men's and women's swim teams headed to Lancaster, Pa. this weekend to face Franklin & Marshall. The men's team won nine of the first 12 events and ended up winning the meet 156-101, while the women's team won seven of the 14 events on their way to a 148-114 win.
The first event of the day for the men was the 200m Medley Relay. Senior Neil Mahoney, sophomore Tim Nam, freshman Nick Schmidy and senior Teddy Bulakul won the relay in a time of 1:38.67. The second relay team, composed of Dylan Coggin, Chris Razavi, Eddy Zandee and Tyler Woods, took third with a time of 1:40.20.
The next event was the 1000m Freestyle. The Jays took all the top three spots, with freshman Kevin Morlock and Phillip Hall taking first and second with respective times of 10:02.72 and 10:21.87, and sophomore Markus Kowalsky taking third in 10:37.39.
Mahoney returned to the winner's circle by swimming his way to victory in the 200m Freestyle with a time of 1:49.58. Freshman Durgesh Das took second in the same event in a time of 1:50.37. Coggin took third once again in the 100m Backstroke, with a time of 56.18.The 100m Breaststroke saw Tim Namand freshman Jason Ho take second and third with times of 1:00.97 and 1:02.61.
After the 100m Breaststroke, the Blue Jays swept the top three spots in the 200m Fly - Schmidt took first (2:01.95), followed by sophomore Stephen Niemiec (2:03.40) and Morlock (2:03.57).
The next two events were the 50m Freestyle and the 100m Freestyle. Zandee and Woods finished in the top two spots for the 50m Freestyle, with times of 21.85 and 22.46 respectively. In the 100m Freestyle, Bulakul and Woods also finished one-two, with times of 48.21 and 49.14.Nam returned to the podium by following the 100m Freestyle with a win in the 200m Breaststroke with a time 2:13.00. Razavi and Ho followed in third and fourth in 2:19.00 and 2:20.05, respectively.
Three men's sweeps followed in the 500m Freestyle and 100m Fly. In the 500m Freestyle, Morlock picked up the win in 4:57.75 and was followed by Hall (5:01.89) and sophomore Patrick Lynch (5:05.39). In the 100m Fly, Schmidt picked up the win (53.29), with freshman Carter Gisriel taking second (54.01) and freshman Connor Murphy taking third (56.07).
"The men jumped out early and won the close races," Coach George Kennedy said. "The top swimmers of this weekend were Kevin Morlock, Neil Mahoney, Teddy Bulakul, Tim Nam and Nick Schmidt. The team must focus on great training for the next four weeks, as we have a tough schedule ahead."
The women's team opened up its meet by taking second and third in the 200m Medley Relay. Sophomores Lindsey Kent, Elizabeth Rogers and Annie Tsay teamed up with freshman Eleanor Gardner to take second in a time of 1:53.03. Sophomore Margaret Spach, senior Caitlin Dennis and junior Michele Palopoli took third in 1:58.09.
In the 1000m Freestyle, freshman Cathy Howard took second place by finishing in 10:49.92. The Lady Jays then took first and second in the 200m Freestyle, with freshman Kristen Ferriero taking first in 1:59.84 and sophomore Khristine Ghemigian taking second in 1:59.09. The women followed with a two-three finish in the 100m Backstroke. Freshman Daniella Villegas took second in 1:04.33 and Spach took third in 1:04.55.
The women took consecutive top spots in the 100m Breaststroke, 200m Fly, 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle, 100m Fly and 200m Individual Medley. Tsay and Dennis took first and second place in the 100m Breaststroke in 1:07.54 and 1:11.41 respectively, while sophomore Meagan Heslin and Palopoli went two-three in the 200m Fly.
The ladies took second and third yet again in the 50m Freeastyle, with Gardner taking second in 25.82 and Rogers taking third in 25.86. Rogers and Gardner immediately returned to the winners circle by going one-two in the 100m Freestyle. Rogers took the win in 54.90, with Gardner finishing in 55.39. Heslin (1:03.17) and freshman Nicole Wain (1:03.95) took two-three in the 100m Fly, while Tsay and Spach then followed that with a one-two finish in the 200m Individual Medley in 2:14.99 and 2:19.31 respectively.
In the 200m Backstroke, Hopkins took second, third and fourth, picking up nine points. Ferriero placed second (2:17.09), followed by Spach (2:20.46) and senior Robin Schaffer (2:20.80).In the next event, the 200m Breaststroke, Dennis took first with a time of 2:31.45, finishing more than five seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Freshman Casey Navin took fourth in 2:41.48.
In the 500m Freestyle, Howard won with a time of 5:17.37, while Ghemigian took third (5:22.17), and sophomore Heidi Culver took fourth (5:28.35).
Hopkins closed out the meet just as they opened it, taking first and third in the 200m Free Relay. Ferriero, Rogers, Gardner and Tsay won the relay in 1:41.70. While Ghemigian, Villegas, Palopoli and senior Katie Vance took third in 1:44.96.
Kennedy said that the women responded well after falling behind.
"I am very proud of how they responded this weekend," he said. "The top swimmers were Cathy Howard, Elizabeth Rogers, Kristen Ferriero and Annie Tsay. We had excellent effort from both teams and we look forward to swimming Loyola and Richmond this weekend at Loyola."
The men's and women's teams return to action at the annual Thomas Murphy Invitational at Loyola University on November 6 and 7.
