The women’s swim team benefited from a solid showing, winning its meet againstBrandeis University last Saturday by a score of 172-125.
The win has moved the Yellowjackets to 6-0 in official dual meets. The win against Brandeis was huge for the women. Over the winter break the team trained extremely hard, swimming twice the yardage that they usually do. Coming off such intense training great times are not expected, but UR did well to easily dismiss Brandeis.
“We really suprised Brandeis,” head coach Julie Benker-O’Brien said. “Brandeis really came after us and wanted a win, but we swam strong. Our continued hard work and depth is really paying off.”
The greatest performance of the meet came from senior Christina DeVries. DeVries posted lifetime bests by significant amounts in two of her events. “Christina had a fantastic meet,” Benker said. “She has put in four years and never been our big gun, but right now she has raised the bar for a number of our swimmers.” DeVries won the 50, 100 and 200-yard freestyle events. Another key performer was sophomore Ann Richards, who won the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:07.26 and finished second in the 200-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle.
Junior Tiffany Siu also came up big for the Yellowjackets. “Tiffany had solid performances in her first few events, which really put her in a good position to thrive in the 400-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly,” Benker said.
The Yellowjackets held the first and second spots in the 100-yard backstroke, as Kristin Broderick and Liz Fowler completed the race in 1:04.64 and 1:07.03, respectively.
In the 1-meter diving event, UR’s high-scorer was Patricia McHale who amassed a total of 202.10 points and earned a second place finish.The pair of Broderick and Fowler finished one, two again in the 200-yard backstroke.
The 6-0 start has left Benker satisfied, but in swimming there is always more work to be done. It is one of those sports where you can always be a tenth of a second faster, and that tenth of a second could win you a national championship. In light of this, don’t expect the women to take it easy any time soon.
The UAA championship meet is little under a month away. “The women have gotten this far as a team, but each meet different individuals have really stepped it up,” said Benker.
Benker will use the next few meets to change around the line-up, allowing individuals to improve their times. Improving upon their current times will help the women earn a higher seed at UAA’s.
Men’s ResultsThe men’s swim team fared well against Brandeis as well, as it saw several swimmers turn out productive meets.
The men are also coming off of intense training, so times were not as good as they would usually be. Though the men fought hard they were clearly outmatched by the Brandeis team and lost by a score of 198-89.
A standout performance was put in on the 1-meter diving board by freshman Ted Elton. “Ted learned alot of new dives over the break and after his performance at the Brandeis meet, he has really solidified himself as a competitive collegiate diver,” said Benker. His score of 179.70 earned him a first place finish, edging out the Brandeis diver by 1.45 points.
Other highlights included the Yellowjackets second place finish in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:48.36.
Junior Mike Tynam and sophomore Alex Provan finished first and third, respectively, in the 200-yard freestyle. Tynam’s time was 1:56.81 while Provan finished in 1:57.42.
Significant drops were seen in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly times turned in by freshman Sam Schrauth. “It is nice to see drops come at this point after such intensive training,” said Benker.
Up next for both the men’s and women’s team includes a home meet on Saturday, Jan. 25 against SUNY-Fredonia and Mercyhurst. This meet should be easy for both the men and women. The meet will be an opportunity to pick up a solid win and work on individual performances.
