Last weekend both the men’s and women’s swim teams traveled just down the road to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), as they had a dual-meet, racing against two Division I competitors: the UMBC Golden Retrievers and the University of Delaware Blue Hens.
The men came out of the day with a split record, as they defeated Delaware 189-90 but lost to host UMBC 163-125. Hopkins opened the day with two top-three finishes in the 200 Medley Relay. Seniors Emile Kuyl and Peter Lazorchak along with sophomore Nat Davenport and junior Brandon Fabian took second with a time of 1:33.95. Following close after was the team of freshmen Dylan Wachenfeld, Max Chen and Jeffrey Vitek and senior Michael Wohl, who took third place with a time of 1:36.29.
“It’s impossible to name just one, but we were most impressed with the leadership from our seniors. They guided this young team through a grueling first competition and managed many best ever first swims of the season,” head coach Scott Armstrong said.
In the 1000 Free, sophomore Christopher Arena took third, and classmate Riley Mears took fifth. In the 200 Free, freshman Noah Corbitt grabbed his first collegiate win, as he earned the fastest time in the event with a time of 1:40.91. Fellow freshman Collin Hughes also impressed as he took third.
In the 100 Back, Kuyl finished in third, and sophomore Matt McGough finished in fifth. Chen, who was a member of the third-place 200 Medley Relay team, also shined individually, as he clocked in at 56.98 to win the 100 Breast, his first victory in his collegiate career. Lazorchak took third, and junior Jasper Van Cauwelaert took fourth.
In the 200 Fly, Vitek finished in second, and senior Erik Bostrom finished in fifth. Next, in the 50 Free, Davenport took second with a time of 21.38, and Hughes clocked in less than a second after with a time of 21.61.
In the 100 Free, Hopkins finished one after another, as Fabian took second, Corbitt took third and Wohl took fourth.
In the 200 Breast, Hopkins claimed three top-five finishes, with Chen finishing in second, Van Cauwelaert finishing in third and Lazorchak finishing in fifth.
In the 500 Free, Hughes took the victory, finishing first with a time of 4:39.21. Bostrom followed in fourth, and freshman Mitchell Simmons followed in fifth.
In the 100 Fly, Vitek took second, and Davenport took fifth. And in the final individual event of the day, Chen took second in the 200 Individual Medley (IM), McGough took third and sophomore Noah Frassrand took fourth.
The Blue Jays finished the day with the 400 Free Relay, where Davenport, Fabian, Hughes and Corbitt grabbed second, and Simmons, Kuyl, Wohl and Lazorchak grabbed fourth.
Bostrom reflected on the performance, especially on that of his freshmen teammates, as this was only their second collegiate swim meet.
“The freshmen were on fire during the meet and posted some really impressive times,“ Bostrom said. “A bunch of the freshmen guys and girls won events competing against two very good Division I schools, which is super exciting to start the season off.”
The women also put up a good fight against their Division I competitors, although they were unable to pull out the wins on Saturday. The Blue Jays started off the day with a third-place finish in the 200 Medley Relay by juniors Sonia Lin, Michelle Wang and Alison Shapiro and freshman Sydney Okubo.
In the 1000 Free, sophomore Emma McElrath took second place, which was a career-best time and the second fastest for the event in school history. Next, in the 200 Free, Wang took a fourth-place finish.
Okubo, following the trend of successful freshmen swims, grabbed her first career win in the 100 Back with a time of 57.80. Senior Natalia Rincon followed in fourth with a time of 1:00.70. Next was the 100 Breast, where Lin grabbed third, and senior Phi Nguyen grabbed fifth.
More freshmen recorded impressive times, as freshman Elaine Lipkin took third in the 200 Fly, and freshman Kristen Alicea-Jorgensen took second in the 50 Free. Shapiro wasn’t too far behind, as she took fourth in the 50 Free.
Okubo took home another win, as she finished first in the 200 Back by nearly three seconds. She finished with a time of 2:05.25. In the 200 Breast, Lin took second. And in the 500 Free, McElrath took her second second-place finish, and Lipkin claimed fourth.
Freshman Rebecca Ssengonzi placed fourth in the 100 Fly, and Okubo and Wang took second and fourth, respectively, in the 200 IM to close out the day’s individual races.
Hopkins ended their long day of competition with the 400 Free Relay, as Shapiro, freshman Sophia Girgenti, Alicea-Jorgensen and sophomore Mikayla Bisignani finished in second, and sophomores Tiffany Lara and Carmela Irato, senior Emily Cheng, and McElrath took fourth.
“I was impressed by the freshman who stepped up for some big swims,” Armstrong said.
The Blue Jays will jump back into the pool on Friday, Oct. 19 as they head down to Annapolis, Md. to face off against more tough Division I competition.
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