Last week, from February 15 to February 18, Men’s and Women’s Swimming took on the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championships in York, PA. Facing 11 other teams, Men’s Swimming took first place with 1,444.5 points, and Women’s Swimming secured second in their own bracket, having amassed a total of 1,246 points.
By the end of day one, Men’s and Women’s swimming saw a respective 325 and 280 points for a first and third place finish. On the men’s team, junior Edward Platonov and first-year Patrick Cortelli took silver medals in individual events, the 200-yard individual medley and the 500-yard freestyle. Junior Ryan Ward, graduate student Derick Miller, and sophomores Deo Bove and Will Stibor secured a silver in the 200-yard medley relay. For the women, junior Kai Wong placed third in the 50-yard freestyle and set her own personal best at a time of 24.70. Wong also took second in the 200-yard medley relay along with sophomores Adriana Bertolotti, Natalia Brunetti, and Gabby Sokolik.
Men’s Swimming held their first place lead above the competition on the second day, totaling 743 points, and Women’s Swimming kept third with 626. Platonov won the 200-yard freestyle, bringing his victory in the race up to three years straight, and setting a season best of 1:42.21. The Ducks earned two silver medals in their relays, the 200-yard freestyle, and the 400-yard medley. Platonov, Stibor, Miller, and sophomore Leo Timmermann shaved more than a second off their seed time in the 200-yard freestyle relay, finishing in 1:24.49. The same day, Brunetti won the 100-yard butterfly for the second year straight, and became one of the two swimmers to finish the race in less than a minute, at a time of 57.74. Wong, Bertolotti, Sokolik, and senior Keenan Yates finished third in the 200-yard freestyle relay, finishing just one-hundredth of a second away from second, at a time of 1:38.82.
Women’s Swimming moved up to second on day three, with 895 points. Men’s Swimming maintained first with 1058. Brunetti won her second butterfly of the championships, this time being the 200-yard, finishing in 2:07.83. The Ducks took multiple third place finishes during the day, including Wong in the 100-yard backstroke, and quartet of Sokolik, senior Claire Hannan, junior Melissa Misurelli, and first-year Kylie Martinez in the 800 Free, where they earned 54 points. The only first-place victory for Men’s Swimming during the third day was in the 800-yard freestyle relay where Stibor, Cortelli, Platonov, and junior Cade Cermak finished in 6:55.67. Both Bove and Miller finished in the top three of the 200-yard butterfly, with Bove taking silver and Miller taking bronze, with respective times of 1:56.92 and 1:58.54.
Both teams managed to maintain their places during the final day of the championships. Junior Sophie Patz was involved in both of her teams’ medalled victories of the day. Patz finished with a personal best of 2:08.24 in the 200-yard backstroke and claimed second and 28 points for the Ducks. She also, along with Yates, Hannan, and Misurelli, closed out the meet with another second place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team totalled 351 points for the day, securing their second-place finish for the third year in a row.
Two first place finishes were secured by Men’s Swimming on Sunday. Cortelli took an individual gold for the 1,650-yard freestyle, and became the first Stevens swimmer to do so since Stevens joined the MAC. The second gold of the day was in the 400-yard freestyle, won by Bove, senior Phong Tran, and first-years Drew Rossi and Nick Croghan. This was the 11th relay medal for the Ducks of the championship.
Coupled with various other place-finishes by members of the team, the men’s team accrued 386.5 points for the day, winning the conference title by 327.5 points over runner up Widener University. This is the fifth straight MAC title won by the team and the 12th consecutive conference championship streak.
