Shannon Welch/Photo Editor
When the men’s and women’s swimming teams took to the water against Coast Guard, Wesleyan’s squads each had their own goals in the matchup. Whereas the women were looking to finish their season with a winning record, the men simply wanted to finish an otherwise disappointing season on a final high note.
The Cardinal women beat Coast Guard 144-140 on their last dual meet of the season to grab their sixth straight winning season and their ninth in the last 10 years. The Cardinals won 9 of the 14 swimming events, with senior Cara Colker-Eybel ’15 winning the 200m freestyle and the 100m individual medley in her final collegiate dual meet. Sophomore Angela Slevin ’15 won the 500m freestyle with teammate Colker-Eybel finishing three seconds behind in second. Slevin also swam the first leg in the 200m medley relay, which put the Cardinals in the lead at the beginning of the meet. Rachel Hirsch ’15, Alyssa Savarino ’14, and Alexa Burzinski ’15 also swam in a Wes victory in the 200m medley.
A good performance from freshman Liyan Yao saw her win the 100m backstroke. Other victories came in the 200m backstroke from sophomore Liz Baumgartner, the 100m breaststroke from Hirsch, and the 200m breaststroke from junior Roxy Capron. The Cardinals also won the 400m free relay by a margin of nine seconds, with Slevin, Savarino, Burzinski, and Colker-Eybel taking part in the winning effort.
Unfortunately, the men didn’t fare as well in their meet against Coast Guard, losing by a margin of 86, which dropped the Cardinals to 2-10 on the season. Freshmen Billy Hepner and Jacques Bazile both performed well in the 100m breaststroke, with Hepner winning with a time of 1:01.64 and Bazile finishing less than a second behind him. Hepner also won the men’s 400m individual medley with a time of 4:19.71. Sophomore Wesley Ho ’15 also picked up an individual victory for the Cardinals with a time of 2:10.44 in the 200m individual medley.
The men also dominated in the 400m freestyle relay, winning by more than 10 seconds. Seniors Wes Fantini, Martin Kafina, and grad student Jeff Arace teamed up with Hepner to win with a time of 3:19.93. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the relay win combined with the wins from Hepner and Ho weren’t enough to propel them to their third win of the season.
Up next for both the men and the women is one of the biggest events of the year, the annual NESCAC Championships. It is being hosted by Bowdoin this year, beginning on Friday, Feb. 22.