“It was definitely fun,” said senior Bryan Geiger of the men’s victory. “Right from the very first event, when we won, it started the meet off well. The whole team was just excited.”

In the first event of the meet, the 200-yard freestyle relay, Geiger and fellow Red Hawks freshman Dan Brocki, junior Mike Scibelli, and sophomore Kevin Sheridan edged out Union’s top quartet by 0.82 seconds.

“We were getting a lot of touch-outs,” remarked O’Brien. “And our relays just dominated.” After topping the field in the 200-yard freestyle relay, the RPI men also won the 400-yard medley relay to end the first session, triumphed in the 200-yard medley relay in session two, and completed the relay sweep with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay in the last session.

Geiger swam the second leg on all four relay teams, and was integral in the quartet’s success. “He was the reason we won the medley relays,” praised O’Brien. “We were behind and he would catch up.”

The Toms River, N.J., native also enjoyed a great deal of individual success. Geiger won both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events, and finished fifth in the 50-yard freestyle. In winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 58.86 seconds, Geiger broke his own Liberty League record by almost a full second.

“I knew he was capable of going 58.8 in his 100,” said O’Brien. “I didn’t know if he could go it now … [but] he was so focused.”

“It’s cool to sort of leave my mark on RPI,” said Geiger about the record. He smiled and added, “Hopefully [it stands] at least for a little while.”

All told, Geiger won six events out of the seven he entered, broke a Liberty League record, and was named the Men’s Swimmer of the Meet. He attributed much of his success to the friendly confines of Robison Pool. “When you’re motivated and have the home pool advantage, that kind of stuff really helps,” explained Geiger. “You’ve got your fans, people cheering for you, and your team is pumped up.”

Geiger also felt that winning the first relay was a huge catalyst. He said, “After winning that first relay, it gives you confidence, it gives you motivation to continue on and swim fast for the rest of the meet and I think that really helped a lot.”

The Red Hawks also received strong performances from sophomore Matt Hiltner and the team’s diving core.

Hiltner, who was named Men’s Rookie of the Meet at last year’s championship, executed on the big stage once again. The Columbia, S.C., native joined Geiger on the triumphant 200- and 400-yard medley relay teams, won the 100- and 200- yard butterflies, and was victorious in the 200-yard individual medley. He also came in second behind Geiger’s record-setting swim in the 100-yard breaststroke.

RPI’s divers were also vital in the victory. Junior Greg Derevianko, freshman Matt Culen, senior captain Bobby Monahon, and freshman Doug Totten garnered valuable points for the Red Hawks on both the one- and three-meter boards.

Derevianko finished second in both events, earning an NCAA “A” cut in the one-meter and a “B” cut in the three-meter. Making a cut puts a diver one step closer to competing at the national championship in March. Culen continued his impressive freshman campaign with third-place finishes on both boards. He also made the “B” cut in both events. Monahon completed the 2-3-4 sweep with fourth-place finishes in both events. He, too, made a “B” cut on the one-meter board. Totter added more depth to the diving onslaught, gaining points for the Red Hawks with an 11th-place finish in the three-meter and a 16th-place finish in the one-meter.

“That helped,” stated O’Brien of her divers’ performances. “Those are huge points for us, 2-3-4-11 [in the three-meter] is pretty big.”

Despite their position on the leader board, the women’s squad was also very pleased with their performance.

“We knew we weren’t going to win the meet,” admitted junior captain Karel Schnebele. “That wasn’t really what our goal was. Our goal was to be a spoiler, sort of place high in certain events to mess up other teams’ chances.” The Silver Spring, Md., native added, “As a team, we did really well. Everybody dropped time, everybody worked really hard.”

O’Brien echoed Schnebele’s sentiments, saying, “I was definitely happy. My sophomore class definitely swam faster at this meet than they did last year … [the whole team] swam well as a whole.”

The highlight of the meet for the women came in the last event—the 400-yard freestyle relay. The quartet of freshman Sara Orndorff, sophomores Oya White and Kelly Owens, and Schnebele not only finished first, but also set a new Liberty League record in the event with a time of 3:42.49.

The record-setting pace was a bit of a shock to everyone. “I knew we had a shot at winning it,” commented O’Brien of the race. “[But] I didn’t think we had a shot at getting the record.”

Schnebele admitted the thought of breaking the record had never crossed her mind. “I never thought we were going to do that. I never even though of that,” she said.

Schnebele also enjoyed personal success, finishing second in the 100-yard freestyle; fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, the 200-yard freestyle relay, and the 400-yard medley relay; and sixth in the 50-yard freestyle.

“I was really happy,” said Schnebele on her performance. “I swam some of my best times for the year so far, and that was what I was hoping to do.”

Schnebele’s favorite event of the championship, however, was not one of her own. She said, “My favorite race of the entire meet was Kelly Owens’ 200-yard breaststroke because she really just, in that last 50 [yards], put so much effort, and it was so awesome to see her touch the other girl out.”

Owens made up 0.76 seconds in the final 50 yards to overtake Vassar’s Allison Koenker for second place in the event.

O’Brien also found the race to be noteworthy, commenting, “That was huge for us.”

Both squads will now enjoy some much deserved rest before returning for their winter training trip. This year, the teams will travel to Hawaii. The trip will give the Red Hawks a chance to get back into top form before the second half of the season starts and provide the group with the opportunity to do some bonding.

Afterward, the men’s team will be looking to carry their early season momentum into the latter half of the season. Geiger said, “The guys’ team is on a high right now, and if we can maintain that, finish up the semester academically, go home, have a break, and then hit our training trip hard, and then bring that focus back into view for the back half of the season, I think we’ll be good going into the state meet [in February].”