On Monday, December 4, following a three day invitational hosted by The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), juniors Kai Wong and Edward Platonov, from the women’s and men’s swimming teams respectively, were announced as honorees the MAC Swimmer of the Week award. The title is the first weekly award of Wong’s career and the first of the year for Platonov.
The TCNJ Invitational began on Friday, December 1, when the women’s and men’s teams competed against TCNJ, the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Suny New Paltz, and West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
The first day of the meet included the preliminaries and finals of the 500 Free, the 200 Individual Medley (IM), and the 50 Free. The 7 p.m. finals also included the 200 Free Relay and the 400 Medley Relay. The women’s team saw first in their bracket, and the men second in theirs, with a respective 326 and 215 points.
Saturday, December 2, were the preliminaries and finals for the 400 IM, 100 Fly, 200 Free, 100 Breast, and 100 Back, with the 6 p.m. finals making time for the 200 Medley Relay, as well as the 800 Free Relay. The second day of the invitational saw consistency for the Ducks, as Women’s Swimming again took first with 702 points, and Men’s Swimming took second with 533.5 points. The Ducks’ victory was largely ensured by sophomores Gabby Tyler, Natalia Brunetti, and Adriana Bertolotti winning their individual races, and senior Keenan Yates, along with Wong, Bertolotti, and Brunetti winning their relay. For the men, Platonov’s victory in the 200 Free ensured their placement in second for the day and was also the team’s first win of the meet.
On the final day of the invitational, Sunday, December 3, Women’s Swimming amassed 997 points, and placed second in their bracket, while Men’s Swimming took home third with a total of 770 points. The day consisted of the preliminaries and finals for the 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, and 200 Fly, along with the addition of the 1650 Free and 400 Free Relay in the finals. Women’s Swimming took multiple wins, including those of junior Sophie Patz in the 200-yard backstroke, Wong in the 100-yard freestyle, and Brunetti in the 200-yard butterfly, but narrowly lost the meet to TCNJ by a mere eight points. Throughout the weekend, they secured nine first-place, eight second-place, and 11 third-place finishes.
The Ducks are now on winter break, their next meet not being till Friday, January 12, against No. 5 NYU, in the DeBaun Aquatic Center. This will be immediately followed by a second meet against NYU on Saturday, January 13, this time in New York.
