“We knew it was going to come down to that last session, and that’s probably one of our strongest sessions,” said Head Coach Shannon O’Brien of the men’s comeback victory. “We knew going in if we were in close range of Hamilton on Friday night, we knew we were pretty well set up for the next session.”

The RPI men kept themselves close to Hamilton through the first session with solid performances from senior and junior captains Pat Fell and Rob Olivo, junior Bryan Geiger, sophomore Mike Scibelli, and freshman Matt Hiltner. Fell contributed third place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relay A. Olivo came in with a win in the 400-yard medley relay B, as well as a third place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay B. Geiger joined Olivo on the successful 400-yard medley relay B team. Scibelli and Hiltner joined Fell on the third place finishing 400-yard medley relay A squad, as well as finishing 1-2 in the 200-yard individual medley, respectfully.

After a night’s rest, the Red Hawk men took back to the lanes Saturday morning and closed in on six-time defending league champ, Hamilton. The attack was led by the usual suspects; Fell, Geiger, Scibelli, and Hiltner. To start the second session, the quartet orchestrated a third place finish in the 200-yard medley relay A. As the session continued, Hiltner added another third place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. Geiger and Scibelli set Liberty League records in the course of winning the 100-yard breaststroke and 400-yard individual medley, respectively.

“The record’s nice because [even though] it’s not going to always be there, it will be there for a little while, at least ‘til next year,” commented Scibelli on the accomplishment.

Fell also chimed in with a second place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle, not his typical event. “He’s not a 1650 guy,” explained O’Brien of Fell, “but we knew we needed to catch some points there.” In fact, not only did Fell finish second, but five other RPI men gained points for their performances in the 1650-yard freestyle. “We scored a lot of points in the 1650 that I didn’t think we were going to score. A lot of the freshmen really swam well and scored [for us],” divulged O’Brien.

The Red Hawk men entered the third and final session only 16 points behind Hamilton. To begin, sophomore Greg Derevianko finished second in the 1-meter dive, in the process making his second cut toward qualifying for the NCAA championships in March. Joining Derevianko were fellow divers Bobby Monahon, Anthony Motisi, and John Tornatore-Pili who collected more points for the Red Hawks with fourth, fifth, and ninth place finishes, respectively.

“They elevated us,” praised O’Brien of her divers. Geiger would chip in another win in the 200-yard breaststroke, and Fell, Hiltner, and Scibelli joined freshman Kevin Sheridan on the victorious 400-yard freestyle relay B team. “[Our guys] know that our third session is our best session. We always end up gaining a lot of points at championships in that session. That’s what we train for,” explained O’Brien of the men’s strong showing Saturday evening. In addition to the men’s triumphant weekend, Hiltner received individual honors as Male Rookie of the Meet.

Despite being edged out by Vassar in the final session, bumping them from fourth down to fifth, the women enjoyed their fair share of successes on the weekend as well. Sophomore standout Karel Schnebele rode her momentum from the last two dual-meets into Clinton to the tune of triumphs in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. Schnebele also placed second in the 200-yard freestyle relay A and third in the 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard freestyle relay A.

“Karel, winning the 50 [and] winning the 100, that’s huge,” applauded O’Brien. “She had personal bests in all her events this weekend, so you can’t ask for much more than that.” Also enjoying some success was fellow sophomore Lea Marlor. Marlor accompanied Schnebele on the second place 200-yard and third place 400-yard freestyle relay A teams, as well as being part of the second place finishing 200-yard medley relay B squad and finishing third in the 50-yard freestyle. Senior captain and diving despot Melissa Hershey added to her stellar season, and to the Red Hawk women’s point total, with a third place finish in the 3-meter dive.

Coach O’Brien was pleased with the accomplishments of her women’s squad. “My women swam very well. We had a couple of season-best times [and] they all swam faster,” elated O’Brien. The coach also sees a motivational opportunity in the loss to Vassar. “The women are motivated,” said O’Brien. “They didn’t like losing to Vassar this weekend, and that’s a goal of theirs. They want to try to get them [back] at the championship meet.”

Not all the good news belonged to the Red Hawk student-athletes, however. Coach O’Brien, as well as Assistant Coach Daniel Traub and Diving Coach Maria Coomaraswamy-Falkenstein, were named Coaching Staff of the Meet.

“It was very rewarding,” said O’Brien of the honor. However, O’Brien was quick to deflect the praise to her team. “It was [the team]. They make us look good. They swam fast and did what we talked about doing,” she explained.

With the league championships completed, the Red Hawks have reached a half-way point in their season. With half the season remaining, the women find themselves with a 6-6 overall record and the men enjoy a perfect 11-0 mark.

“I think we’re probably a little bit ahead of schedule of what we were last year,” commented O’Brien on both the men and women’s status. “We’re definitely physically in better shape than we have been in the past.” However, that does not mean the Red Hawks will be taking it easy. “We still have a lot of things we need to work on with individuals,” advised O’Brien, “whether it’s a start or a turn or a tweak in the stroke or learning how to swim the race a little bit better.”