The end of October isn’t generally considered a time for the pool. With winter coming and the leaves falling, however, the Maroons took to the water over the weekend for their first competition of the year as both the men’s and women’s teams traveled to Wheaton to each net commanding victories.
“I was happy with their performances after only three weeks of training,” said Head Coach Jason Weber. “I view dual meets as training and competition opportunities with a focus on conference and NCAA Championships.”
The Maroons went beyond mere performance, with the men running away with the meet by more than doubling the score of the Thunder 166–82, and the women scoring an impressive 145–105 win. The men failed to drop a single race, winning every individual event and both relays, while the women nabbed victories in six out of nine events and both relays.
“I think both teams competed very well for this early in the season,” said fourth-year Tara Levens, who won the 100 free. “We performed much better this year against Wheaton than we did last year. The team looked much sharper, but we still have lots of room for improvement since it is so early in the year.”
The Maroons started their dominating performance early with both 400 medley relay teams taking top place, and in the men’s race the Maroons’ A and B squads netted the top two spots. After setting the tempo, the Maroons refused to let up, continuing to overpower Wheaton in virtually every event.
“We were very impressed with the results of the meet. Our team won every single event and put up fast times,” said fourth-year Nick Santoro, who also won the 100 free. “We started the meet with strong performances and carried the momentum to the finish.”
Topping off the performance on the men’s side was first-year Andrew Angeles, who delivered a near-NCAA B-standard time in his first race of the season with his 2:06.95 win in the 200 breaststroke, defeating the next closest finisher by over ten seconds.
“Andrew swam an incredible 200 breaststroke,” said first-year Jennifer Hill, who also turned in a first place finish in the 50 free.
With this win behind them, the Maroons have high goals for the season.
“I think both teams are on track to do very well this year. For the women’s team, we’re always aiming to get closer to Emory—they are the national champions, so the closer we are to them the better,“ said Levens. “The men are looking strong as well, and should definitely be able to break into second at UAAs as well.”
The Maroons continue their early season this Saturday with a visit from IIT.
