The Cardinal swim teams took on Coast Guard in their annual season-ending home meet against the Bears on Saturday, with the Wes women earning a 169-126 victory, while the Cardinal men fell 169.5-122.5. The men’s team finished the dual-meet season with a record of 4-5 in duals but 7-6 overall while the women stand 5-4 in dual meets and 9-4 overall.
Co-captain Dan Storms ’10 and diver Gianfranco Galluzzo ’12 contributed strong performances for the Cardinal men. Storms prevailed in the 200 free with a time of 1:45.18. Co-captain Ryan Beck ’10 was close behind Storms, cutting through the water for a third-place Cardinal finish with a time of 148.49. The Cardinal seniors put up some impressive numbers, but Galluzzo also carried some weight for the diving team. Galluzzo took both diving events and continued his strong performances after taking first in the one-meter dive in last week’s tri-meet with Bowdoin and Colby.
The Wesleyan men have finished with an overall winning record six of the last seven seasons, in addition to a 7-7 mark in 2006-07. The 2009-10 season also saw the Cardinals extend their winning streak against Trinity to 28 meets, dating back to the Bantams’ last win, 48-47 on Jan. 27, 1982.
The Wes women produced a strong team effort in the meet with multiple swimmers putting strong scores on the board. Cara Colker-Eybel ’13 continued her string of impressive performances with top finishes in the 100 free, 200 free, and the 200 IM. Rachel Cohen ’12 also had a long tally of first place finishes, displaying stamina in the 1000 free, and quickness in the 100 and 200 fly. Sam Santaniello ’13 glided through the water to win the 100 and 200 breaststroke, and tri-captain Cara Madden ’11 led the team for first-place finishes in the 100 backstroke and the 50 free. Naima Ford ’11 continued the Cardinals’ winning streak on the diving board, sweeping the diving events.
After their strong display of talent against Coast Guard, the Cardinals have two more weeks before they compete in the NESCAC Championships. Middlebury will host the meet as the Cardinals travel up to Vermont, hoping to improve on last year’s ninth-place finish Feb. 19-21. In addition, the Cardinals will wait to see if Colker-Eybel will qualify for the NCAA Championships, as she recorded national “B” cut times in the 200 free (1:55.68) and 100 fly (0:58.73) the previous weekend against Colby and Bowdoin to provisionally qualify for the Championships.
The Cardinal men will do the same a week later, as the team will travel to Williams for the NESCAC Championships Feb. 26-28 and look to build on last year’s fifth-place finish. Trials get underway at 10 a.m. each day, with finals taking place at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 5:30 p.m. Sunday, in both the men’s and women’s events.
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