Swimming and Diving Beat to the Wall in First Two Meets

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams began their 2017–18 season on Saturday, Nov. 18, with a home opener against Connecticut College on Nov. 18 in the newly refurbished Natatorium. Both the men’s and women’s teams were defeated by the Camels, 176–104 and 191–103, respectively. The Panther squads also fell to Tufts at the Nat the next day, Nov. 19, in their second meet of the season as the men’s team fell short 175–100 and the women’s team lost a closely contested meet 155–134.

On the women’s side against Connecticut College, Georgia Houde ’20 and Frances VanderMeer ’20 had first-place finishes for the Panthers. Houde won the 1,000 free and her time of 11:06.14 was a full three seconds faster than her nearest competitor, which happened to be first-year Sarah McEachern ’21.

VanderMeer whipped through the pool in 58.78 seconds to win the 100 butterfly and managed to place second in the 50 free.

The men’s side also claimed two individual victories in the Connecticut College meet. Kevin Santoro ’21 swam the 200 backstroke in 1:59.47 and Connor McCormick ’18 swam the 200 breaststroke in 2:12.94 to put the Panthers atop the podium in those events. Charles Quinn ’20 touched the wall .26 seconds after Santoro for a time of 1:59.73 which was good for a second-place finish in the 200 backstroke.

In addition to winning the 200 breastroke, McCormick also snatched second place in both the 200 individual medley (2:01.75) and 200 free (1:47.42).

For the diving squads, the women got a first-place finish by Elissa DeNunzio ’18, who won both the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions. She registered a 244.95 in the 1-meter and a 251.85 in the 3-meter.

Mike Chirico ’20 of the men’s side also claimed a pair of first-place finishes for the Panthers in the 1- and 3-meters dives. He scored 290.55 points in the 1-meter competition and 272.70 in the 3-meter event.

The Panthers fared better against Tufts in their second meet of the season.

On the women’s side, the team managed five first-place finishes, three of which were individual.

VanderMeer continued her success in the pool, winning two events for the women’s team. She won the 50 backstroke (27.50) and 100 freestyle (53.79), while teammate Stephanie Andrews ’18 placed first in the 50 freestyle (25.36).

VanderMeer and Andrews were a part of the triumphant 200- and 400-yard medley relay teams.

In the 200, VandeerMeer and Andrews teamed up with with Maya Gomez ’20 and Kelly Delane ’18 to win with a time of 1:50.04. VandeerMeer, Andrews and Gomez were joined by Erin Kelly ’21 in the 400-yard freestyle relay victory, touching the wall in 3:40.69.

The men’s team was victorious in 3 events in the Tufts meet.

Brandon Leech ’19 won the 100 backstroke event, finishing in a time of 55.05. Quinn captured his first event-victory of the season in the 200 individual medley which he completed in 2:01.69.

The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Leech, Cory Jalbert ’21, McCormick, and Christian Chiang ’20 won the third of the Panthers events in the Tufts meet. The four finished with a time of 3:18.74.

On the boards, DeNunzio and Chirico both continued to clamp-down on the 1- and 3-meter events for the Panthers.

DeNunzio got 234 points in the 1-meter and 233.48 in the 3-meter, while Chirico claimed the 1-meter competition with 292.58 points and the 3-meter by racking up 252.68 points.
The Panthers will be back in the pool this Saturday, Dec. 2, when they travel to Amherst, Massachusetts, for a meet with the Mammoths and the Panthers’ first away matchup of the season.