The RPI women’s swimming and diving team had a fantastic finish to their season this past week at the New York State Women’s Collegiate Athletic Association championship meet in Syracuse. The team came in seventh with a team score of 571 points at the meet. Two swimmers qualified for nationals, one was named Swimmer of the Meet, and the diving coach was named Diving Coach of the Year. Sophomore Meghan Hartman was named New York State Swimmer of the Meet for the second year in a row after a stellar performance at the meet in which she had three individual first place finishes, all of which qualified her for the NCAA national championships. In addition, she also took part in three relays. Junior Allison Geer had three first-place finishes, one of which qualified her for the NCAA national championship meet, while the other two times provisionally qualified her. Additionally, RPI diving Head Coach Maria Commaraswamy-Falkenstein was named New York State Diving Coach of the Year, an honor which comes at the end of her first year here at RPI.
Geer and Hartman both led the team’s individual performers. Geer took first in the 50-yard free, the 200 free, and the 100 free with times of 24.62, 1:55.28, and 51.88 respectively. Geer’s time in the 100 free earned her a berth at the NCAA championships, her times in the 50 and 200 also provisionally qualified her. Hartman won the 200 yard IM, 400 yard IM, and the 200 breaststroke, with times of 2:08.82, 4:33.18, and 2:24.76 respectively. Her times in the 200 and 400 IM were both “A-cuts”—guaranteed qualifying times for the NCAA national championships—and her 200 breast time was a provisional qualifying time.
Several other team members had notable individual performances, among them was Sara Chadwick with a 13th place finish in the 100 back (1:04.62), a 16th place finish in the 200 backstroke (2:22.17), and a 17th place finish in the 200 IM (2:20.74). Maureen Desi had a 12th place finish in the 400 yard IM (5:01.22) and a 16th place finish in the 200 yard breaststroke (2:42.32). Both Janina Hill and Brooke Johnson rounded out the individual performances with 23rd place finishes—Hill in the 200 free (2:10.53) and Johnson in the 500 free (5:44.20).
The diving team was very successful as a whole over the weekend. Freshman diver Melissa Hershey finished seventh in one meter diving with a score of 297.10 and sixth in the three meter diving event with a score of 314.25. Elisa Prange took 18th in the three meter event (224.05) and 22nd in the one meter event (213.05). Lindsay Carpenter took 21rst in the one meter event with a score of 217.40.
Three relay teams took third place at the meet, the 400 medley team of Chadwick, Hartman, Desi, and Geer with a time of 4:10.31. That same group of swimmers took third in the 200 medley with a time of 1:53.94. The team of Hartman, Johnson, Geer, and Desi also took third with a time of 3:41.61 in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Both Meghan Hartman and Allison Geer are now training for their trip to the national championships. In the meantime the team would like to invite you to cheer on the men’s swimming and diving team this week as they compete in their state championship Thursday, Friday, and Saturday hosted by Lemoyne at the Knottingham High School in Syracuse.
