The 2011-2012 season has been one of mixed success for Wesleyan men’s and women’s swimming and diving. Both teams gathered some momentum heading into winter break at a dual meet on Dec. 9 against in-state rival Trinity College, the male Cardinals winning 175-112 and the females winning 177-107. However, as the NESCAC aquatic pundits predicted at the beginning of the year, both have since been stymied by the numbers game.

The main obstacle to scoreboard success facing the AquaCards this year has been their small roster sizes relative to most of their opponents. The teams have had fewer athletes than usual for the past two seasons, which makes things especially difficult given that NCAA rules restrict swimmers from participating in more than three individual events or four events in total.

In spite of this, the women have maintained a winning overall record of 7-5 on the strength of hard work and talented newcomers. This year’s rookie class includes freshmen Angela Slevin, (backstroke), Liz Baumgartner (backstroke, freestyle), Bailey Muchin (distance), Amanda Distler (butterfly), Alexa Burzinski (butterfly), Erin Cohn (breaststroke), Rachel Hirsch (breaststroke), Simone Hyman (diving), as well as Emory transfer Roxy Capron ’14 (breaststroke), all of whom have scored points. The team also benefits this semester from the return of several talented juniors from studying abroad, including Cara Colker-Eybel (butterfly, freestyle), Ally Anderson (freestyle), Aubrey Courville (butterfly), Katie Havlovic (freestyle), Sam Santaniello (IM, breaststroke), and Eliza Bollinger (butterfly).

On Saturday, Jan. 14, the women raced at home against Tufts and Williams in dual meets. The powerhouse Ephs team topped the Cards 167-91, but Wesleyan edged out Tufts 132-126 in a meet that came down to the final race – a 400-yard freestyle relay in which Baumgartner, Slevin, Colker-Eybel, and Alyssa Savarino ’14 swam 3:39:74 to upset a higher-seeded Tufts relay group that finished at 3:43:49. A week later on Jan. 21, the team dropped a close meet to Connecticut College by a score of 168-123, but righted the ship on Jan. 28 by topping Bowdoin (163-134) and Colby (205-88).

The men’s swimming and diving team has unfortunately experienced more growing pains than its female counterpart. The Cards have dropped their last five dual meets since returning from break, all of which were against NESCAC competitors.

Wesleyan suffered home losses on Jan. 14 to Williams (236-52) and Tufts (212-69) and on Jan. 21 to Connecticut College. Last weekend, the team lost to Bowdoin (222-68) and Colby (155-124) in Hartford.

That being said, the team has had the gratification of witnessing numerous individual successes thus far. For instance, four Cardinals finished first in three events on Jan. 21: co-captain Momo Saleh ’12 in the 100-yard breaststroke, Martin Kafina ’13 in the 200-yard butterfly, and Erik Yan ’15 in the 50-yard freestyle. Further, rookie diver Justin Yoshimaru ’14  scored points by taking the one-meter diving event uncontested. Last Saturday, Saleh and Thomas Cho ’13 finished first and second in the 200-yard breaststroke respectively, and Brendan Fortin ’13 finished second in the 200-yard butterfly.

Next Saturday, the Cards return to home to host the Coast Guard Academy in their final dual meet of the season. Show your support at the Wesleyan Natatorium at 1:00 pm.