On Saturday, December 6, the Men’s and Women’s Swim Teams participated in a home meet against the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Despite swimming well, the men’s team lost 171-91. On the other hand, the women’s team swam amazingly and won 171- 88. Despite the mixed results, it was clear that both teams swam well.
The meet started with the women’s 200 medley. The Ducks A team relay of sophomores Paige Bleckley, Eszter Kiss, Natalia Brunetti, and Delaney Klaus, and senior Natalia Brunetti won the race with a time of 1:54.01. Stevens also finished third in this relay with a team of junior Abigail Rosingana, senior Adriana Bertolotti, junior Ashley Settle, and senior Gabby Sokolik, finishing in 1:58.21. Sophomore Dora Dvorkin impressed by winning the 1000 freestyle in 11:20.47, followed closely by her sophomore teammate Julia McKinley and Rosingana.
The men’s team also started off with the 200 medley relay. The team of four seniors, Angel Velasquez, Lukas Mikulenas, Deo Bove, and Will Stibor, finished second with a time of 1:36.87. First-year Cooper Moffatt then opened individual racing by finishing second in the 1000 freestyle in 10:18.75, with sophomore Andrew Gaba placing fifth and first-yearYusuf Tokuz sixth. First-year Sebastien Nappi led the Ducks in the 200 freestyle with a second-place 1:48.93. Sophomore Ethan Emerton finished second in the 100 backstroke in 54.05, followed by seniors Leo Timmermann and Daniel Shemetov.
Jumping back to the women’s team, Kiss returned to the pool to win the 200 freestyle in 1:59.66. The Ducks dominated in the 200 butterfly as sophomore Hanna Matheson won in 2:16.40. Klaus sprinted to wins in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. Kiss added another victory in the 500 freestyle with a 5:28.37; McKinley and Rosingana also placed in this race. First-year Samantha Gallo and Settle took first and second in the 100 butterfly. Matheson and senior Gabby Tyer placed second and third in the 200 IM. The Ducks closed out the meet with a strong win in the 400 freestyle relay as Kiss, Brunetti, Gallo, and Klaus posted an impressive 3:48.10. All these results, along with many others, are what led to the women’s team winning with a whopping 171 points.
On the men’s side, sophomore Joe Sparshott finished second, closely followed by first-yearKyle Phillips in the 200 butterfly. Stibor touched the wall second in a close 50 freestyle. He added another runner-up finish in the 100 freestyle, grabbing even more points for the team. Emerton continued his strong day by winning the 200 backstroke. Nappi got a remarkable win in the 500 freestyle, finishing comfortably after taking an early lead. In the 200 IM, Moffatt led Stevens with a 2:04.78, followed by fellow first-years Andrew Thau and Phillips. Stevens ended the meet with the 400 freestyle relay as the team of Nappi, Velasquez, Bove, and Stibor placed second in 3:16.38. As you can see, the Ducks had many good results throughout the afternoon. Unfortunately, they still lost to USMMA, but they undoubtedly put up a good fight.
Both swimming teams will return after the break on January 17 as they host Drew in the final home meet of the season.
