Over the past few weeks, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving kicked off their competitive season after a fall of serious training. In their first three competitions, both teams have gone 1-1 in dual meets and both won the Cardinal Invitational against Bentley, Brandeis and MIT.
The season began in November in Lewiston, Maine, where the Cardinals took on Bates College in a dual meet. In front of a hostile crowd, both the Cardinal women and men easily defeated the Bobcats. The women were victorious by a score of 138-97. Sophomores Kate Krems and Amanda Shapiro led the ladies to victory in the Women’s 200-Yard Medley Relay. In addition, Krems was also victorious in the 200 Freestyle, and the 100-Yard Butterfly, in which she crushed the competition, touching the wall nearly 4 seconds before the second-place swimmer, Wesleyan’s Stephanie Lasby ’06. Shapiro’s victories came in the 100-Yard Backstroke and the 500-Yard Freestyle. She easily defeated the fields in both events by impressive margins, showing her potential to be a power in the NESCAC this year. The women also had victories by freshmen Agnes Kozco and Caitlin Bethlahmy, who were swimming in their first competition as Cardinals.
At Bates, the men’s team crushed their hosts, defeating the Bobcats by a score of 135-57. The Cardinals were led by Josh Tanz ’06, who won the 50-Yard Freestyle and the 100-Yard Butterfly and was on the victorious 200-Yard Medley Relay team. Other multi-event winners were Ben Byers ’07, who completed the difficult 1000-Yard Freestyle-500 Yard Freestyle double, and senior co-captain Dan Devine, who won both the 100 and 200 Yard Freestyle events.
Unfortunately, the Cardinal’s good fortunes did not continue two days later at home against the powerful Amherst Lord Jeffs. In their second dual meet in three days, the women were defeated by a score of 169-106 and the men fell by a margin of 156-123. The lady Cardinals were again led by Krems, who was victorious in the 50- and 100-Yard Butterfly events, and Shapiro, who won both the 50-Yard Breaststroke and 400-Yard Individual Medley. But the Lord Jeffs were simply too strong in the Freestyle events, which constitute a very large portion of the points at any swim meet. Lord Jeff swimmers took the top spot in all of the Freestyle events and showing their depth, claimed many second and third places as well.
The men, despite a hard-fought battle, also fell to the Lord Jeffs (who are now still undefeated) at Freeman on Nov. 19. The Cardinals were helped mightily by Tanz, who once again pulled off a pair of victories in the 50- and 100-Yard Butterfly events, and Devine, who claimed first place in the 50-Yard Breaststroke and second in the 100-Yard Freestyle. But the star of the day for the Cardinals was clearly Ben Byers ’07 , who placed first in the 1000-Yard Freestyle and 500-Yard Freestyle and finished second in the 400-Yard Individual Medley. Although the Cardinals failed to defeat the Lord Jeffs on that day, they weren’t dominated in any events, and it was clearly an evenly matched competition.
After Thanksgiving break, the team’s season continued with the two-day Cardinal Invitational, held at the Freeman Athletic Center. At this meet, the women defeated all three visiting teams by a fair amount, and the men dominated their competition, scoring nearly 1500 points to win by a margin of 515 points. Will Hasty ’08 won all three Backstroke events, Tanz swept all of the Butterfly events, and Dave Wilkinson ’09, in his first invitational as a Cardinal, won both of his diving events. In addition, Byers continued his dominance, winning the 500 and 1650 Freestyles and taking first place in the 400-Yard Individual Medley as well.
Shapiro, who was completely dominant at the home meet, helped the women’s team. She shocked her opponents and the crowd by being part of six victories in two days. Individually, she won the 50-Yard, 100-Yard, and 200-Yard Breaststroke, and also led the 400-Yard Medley, 400-Free and 800-Free Relay teams to victory.
Considering how many competitions the Cardinals have swum lately, they have certainly earned themselves a break. They will be back in action this Saturday at Trinity College for their last competition before winter break.
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