The men’s and women’s swim teams placed ninth and 10th in the Swarthmore Invitational held on Friday, Dec. 2, and Saturday, Dec. 3, in Swarthmore, Pa. In the invitational’s third-annual tournament, the men tallied a total of 87 points while the women tallied 80 points.
“It was fun to be at an invitational because it’s more than just two teams competing,” Lauren Sliva, senior communication major, said. “And we got to swim against teams we don’t usually get to swim against.”
Sophomore Brandon Mazepa and freshman Evan Strickland led the way for the men’s team. Mazepa broke the 200-yard back stroke record with a time of 2:20.43. Strickland broke the 200-yard freestyle record with a time of 1:52.75. A record was set for the 1,650-yard freestyle at 19:47 by sophomore Tim McCann.
“It feels pretty cool to know that I hold one of the school’s records as a sophomore, especially in the 1,650, because it’s the longest college race,” McCann, sophomore history major, said.
“I think we all did superb,” Mazepa, sophomore history major, said. “We all did our personal best and dropped time.”
Many of the swimmers beat their own records including sophomore Kim Crowther, who beat her personal best in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:26.11.
“Kim in particular dropped so much time in her 100 free that everyone was in disbelief. It was really cool,” Sliva said.
“We’re heading into the bulk of our season and are expecting these records to continuously be broken and to break even more,” Crowther, sophomore special education major, said.
Both teams will take on Ursinus College on Saturday, Dec. 10, in Collegeville, Pa. After the weekend, the teams will not compete again until mid-January, when they face Pitt-Bradford.
“Even though we are a small team, I think we are pretty powerful,” Mazepa said.
