The Rensselaer Swimming and Diving team has been busy with three big meets in the past three weekends. On November 2, the team traveled to the two-time state champion Ithaca College.
The RPI men put up a good fight but fell victim to the Bombers’ strength in numbers, finishing with a team score of 143.5 to 93.5. The women’s team, led by junior captain Meghan Hartman, was vanquished by Ithaca with a score of 156 to 85. Hartman turned in a strong performance, winning all of her events and once again qualifying for nationals.
Hartman dazzled and amazed the home crowd two weekends ago against Hartwick College. Hartman and the women made wholehearted efforts, but Hartwick headed for victory at Robison Pool, winning with a score of 126 to 114.
Meanwhile, the men’s team had their breakout performance. Following Hartman’s lead, Ben and Pat Fell led the men’s team in their quest for victory. The captains were reinforced by a strong sophomore performance along with some nice times from the freshmen. Although the score of 161 to 81 makes it seem like the Red Hawks had a bad day, nothing could be farher from the truth. Following the meet, Ben said, “Both the women and the men had very impressive showings today. With a lot of the alumni and parents at the meet, it was a perfect environment for fast times. We needed this after our tough and disheartening loss last weekend at Ithaca.”
Among the strong performers at both meets, Ben and Pat Fell posted more than ten combined individual and relay wins against the Bombers and the Hawks. Senior Allison Geer had a number of individual wins in both meets coming back from a multiple body length deficit in the 400 medley relay against Ithaca. When asked about her outstanding performance in the race, she could only quote her favorite Doctor Dre song: “You try to be the king, but the ace is back.”
This past week, the teams traveled to Vassar College. The captains of the men’s team were in charge of their own roster, and they swam very well, especially considering they didn’t swim their usual events. Part of the reason for the change was that not all the swimmers traveled.
When asked why some of the swimmers were left home this weekend, Coach Mucci stated that he was trying to enforce regular attendance at practice, and decided that those who missed morning practices would not travel.
As for the women’s team, they were severely outnumbered at Vassar. However, the coaches and captains carefully planned out the meet, and with strong performances by all, managed to pull out a victoryout of the match up, their first of the season. It was a huge win for all the women.
Coach Shannon O’Brien reinforced this after Sunday’s meet: “We have been working hard with multiple practices every day. Our meet at Ithaca was plagued with a long bus ride and an unfamiliar pool. Our heads were not in the meet at all. In the past few weekends, we swam as a team, and that is what is important.”
Both teams came away from these past three weeks happy with their performance. Sophomore Matt Digayser summed up the past weeks perfectly by saying, “We swam fast, but they swam faster.” They are confident that they are building towards their goal of sending swimmers to nationals and dominating the state meet.
