On October 5, the men’s and women’s swimming teams opened up their seasons with a meet against Montclair State University at the DeBaun Aquatic Center. Both teams fell to Montclair, with the women’s team ending with a 154-103 loss and the men’s team ending at 175-87.
The women’s match opened with a 200-yard medley relay, with the team of senior Kai Wong, junior Adriana Bertolotti, junior Natalia Brunetti, and junior Gabby Sokolik taking second place. In the 1000-yard freestyle, first-year Dora Dvorkin took second. The Red Hawks took the top three spots in the 200-yard freestyle, but soon after, in the 100-yard backstroke, Wong took third, and first-year Eszter Kiss finished just 0.20 seconds behind, snagging a fourth-place finish. In the 200-yard butterfly, Brunetti and first-year Hanna Matheson took first and third, respectively, and then first-year Laney Klaus, Kiss, and senior Sophie Patz took second in the 50-yard free, 100-yard free, and 200-yard backstroke, respectively. It was later in the 100-yard butterfly that Brunetti could add a third victory of the day. The match closed out with the Ducks sweeping both the 200-yard individual medley and 400-yard free relay, with Kiss leading the sweep and coming in first, followed by Patz in second and senior Emily Lynch in third. The spotlight was on Brunetti, with four top-two finishes, right next to Kiss, who had three top-two finishes, and Wong, who had two top-three finishes and a 400-yard relay win. Along with them were Sokolik, Klaus, Matheson, Patz, and first-year Julia McKinley, all of whom ended with a pair of top-two finishes.
Just like the women’s team, the men’s match opened with a 200-yard medley relay, with the team of first-year Ethan Emerton and juniors Angel Velasquez, Amadeo Bove, and Will Stibor taking first. Following them at third was the team of senior Ryan Ward, first-year James Johnson, and juniors Leo Timmermann and Gailen Davis. In the 1000-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle, the top three and two spots on the podium were taken by the Red Hawks, respectively. Emerton was Stevens’ only swimmer under 55 seconds, and Velasquez was the only one under one minute in the 100-yard backstroke. Bove took second in the 200-yard butterfly; Stibor took second in the 50-yard freestyle, just 0.01 seconds behind first, and Timmermann took third. Senior Cade Cermak went second in the 100-yard free, 0.15 seconds off of first, while Emerton took second in the 200-yard backstroke, and junior Lukas Mikulenas took second in the 200-yard breaststroke. The Red Hawks took the top three spots in the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley, with Stibor coming close to a comeback in the final event, just 0.12 seconds off of the Red Hawks’ winning team. By the end, Emerton had four top-three finishes, with Velasquez, Bove, and Stibor right behind him, each with three top-three finishes. Cermak finished with two top-twos, while Johnson landed a top-two and top-three, and Timmermann ended with a pair of top-three finishes.
Head coach Adam Schneider said at the meet, “It was a tough meet for us today, Montclair came out very strong and although we had a lot of good takeaways from both meets this just reinforces how much more work we have to do. We are looking forward to next weekend when we host two very strong Rowan teams where we will look to improve upon some of the things that limited us today.” The Ducks will be seen back in the pool at DeBaun on Saturday, October 12, up against Rowan University.
