S and D Teams Enjoy Successful Regular Season Finales

The Colgate men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams finished their regular seasons with authority last Saturday afternoon in West Point. The men split their decision in a tri-meet with Lafayette and Army, while the women swept both opponents in a double win to finish the season with an extraordinary 10-0 record.

The women’s team continued to roll through opponents on its magical run for perfection, crushing Army 188-96 and Lafayette 191-101. The undefeated season is an incredible accomplishment and is a testament to the team’s hard work and motivation.

“I am extremely proud of my teammates for achieving a perfect 10-0 record this season,” senior Bev Walker said. “We had strings of really tough work-outs throughout the season, but everyone kept working hard and was able to focus when it came to performing during competition.”

Colgate dominated its two opponents, claiming the top two places in six events and sweeping the one, two and three positions in three more races. The Raiders finished the day having won every event except the final two. Colgate swam the 200 IM and 200 free relay races as exhibitions, but had the best times in those events.

Sophomore Erin McGraw and seniors Emily Murphy and Ashley Bottger were all triple winners on Saturday. McGraw was named Patriot League Women’s Swimmer of the Week and ECAC Women’s Swimmer of the Week for her efforts. Murphy swam a 1:05.47 to claim the 100-breast ahead of first-year Courtney Callahan and junior Caitlin Curran, who swam times of 1:06.07 and 1:08.63.

In the following event, first-year Erica Derlath, sophomore Emily Kelly and first-year Jenna Daly duplicated the feat in the 200 fly. Derlath won with a time of 2:07.09, while Kelly (2:09.45) and Daly (2:09.65) finished second and third respectively. The final sweep came in the 100 fly as McGraw (55.06) won the event with sophomore Caren Guyett and first-year Sarah Button finishing second and third with times of 55.29 and 58.04. Other first place efforts included Walker in the 100 back (58.70) and 200 back (2:10.71), and Guyett in the 1650 free (17:38.03).

After successfully completing a perfect 10-0 regular season record, the Raiders still have some unfinished business to take care of.

“Actually, there is one last thing I want us to accomplish, and that would be winning another Patriot League title,” senior Lisa Marchi said.

After its 191-100 win over Lafayette and 185-102 loss to Army, the Colgate men’s team concluded the regular season with a 2-8 record. The record is deceiving, however, as the swimmers have been making progress and improving their personal times.

Colgate swept the top three spots in the men’s 500-free. Sophomore Vince Hostoffer shaved five seconds off his personal best, touching in 4:42.83 to win the event by an impressive five seconds. Fellow sophomore Nick Amato finished second at 4:47.71, just missing his career best, while first-year Pat White completed the sweep with a time of 4:54.49.

The Raiders’ other individual first-place effort came from junior Robert Rutkowski, who won the 100-fly with a time of 51.79. First-year Casey Powers and senior George Bennitt finished first and second against Lafayette in the 200 IM with times of 2:03.09 and 2:03.17, respectively.

The Raiders will return to action on February 19-21 when both teams compete in the Patriot League Championships at Bucknell University.