In their final dual meet of the season, Chicago (4–2) fell to DePauw (6–0) by a score of 153.5–146.5 at Ratner Athletics Center on Saturday.
“The men’s team swam exceptionally well,” assistant coach Krista Carlson said. “It really just came down to depth, but the entire coaching staff was very pleased with how [the team] performed.”
The divers swept both events, with first-years Matt Staab and Anthony Restaino setting new records for both the Chicago team and the Myers-McLoraine Pool.
On the swimming side, the Maroon swimmers put up a strong showing, finishing first, second, and third in the 200-meter breaststroke. And first-year Andrew Salomon gutted out a tie in the 500-meter freestyle.
“While it would have been nice if he won outright, he swam an amazing race and posted an insanely fast time in-season,” head coach Jason Weber said.
After honoring the seniors before the meet, the team had been hoping to win to send them off in good fashion.
“The guys were upset that they couldn’t pull off a win for the seniors,” Weber said, “but everyone is excited by how well they swam and performed.”
At this point in the season, with dual meet competition over, the Maroons will have from now until February 15 to prepare for UAA Championships.
“We are going to start tapering during this week,” said first-year swimmer George Gvakharia. “This will help us reach our top level at UAAs.”
The Maroons likely won’t harp much on the loss.
“The team had their best performance of the season, so I can’t be unhappy with the results just because we lost,” Weber said. “Wins and losses are not a major factor in our dual meet season; how we train and perform is more important.”
“Due to the fact that it was our best performance at a dual meet, it was a kind of bittersweet loss,” Gvakharia said. “So I don’t think this loss has actually affected our team’s morale.”
With a positive attitude in tow, the Maroons will train hard over the next two weeks as they prepare for the conference championship meet.
“UAAs are going to be exciting and this meet made us very confident heading into conference,” Carlson said.
The UAA Championships will be held on February 15–18 in Ohio, at Case Western Reserve University.
