This weekend both the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams competed at the Patriot League Swimming & Diving Championships. Both teams finished in seventh place as Navy took both the men’s and women’s championship in Annapolis, Maryland.

On Thursday, February 15, the men began the championship with freestyle relay team, sophomore Colton Hall, juniors Max Michael and Anders Brek and first-year Camden Koch placing sixth. These four completed the 800-yard relay in 6:51.54, which was an unanticipated and incredible 12 seconds quicker than the group’s qualifying time. Koch, Hall and Michael combined with sophomore Hank Alderoty came in seventh in the 200-yard medley. On the diving board, senior Thomas Fretz finished ninth with a score of 254.25. 

The women also found success in the 200-yard medley as first-year Beth Caruana, senior Maddy Fitzgerald, sophomore Kiersten Daly and senior Maggie Carney finished eighth. In the 800-yard freestyle, seniors Megan Gallagher and Bernadette Tankle teamed up with junior Erica Silverman and sophomore Sam Adams to finish with a seventh place time of 7:32.27.

On Friday, day two of the Patriot League tournament, the men continued to swim fast with Hall highlighting the day by breaking his own school record in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:30, 2 seconds faster than his previous. Koch, Michael, Alderoty and junior Ryan Mathes finished seventh in the 400-yard medley. 

On the women’s side, first-year superstar diver Caroline Laplante came in sixth in the 1-meter dive with a score of 234.55. Caruna, Carney, Gallagher and sophomore Kiersten Daly finished sixth in the 400-yard medley with a time of 3:49.81. 

On Saturday, Hall continued breaking school records in the 100-yard freestyle coming in tenth place with a time of 49.25. Qualifying for the finals, Kock finished sixteenth in the 400-yard IM, while Michael, Hall, Alderoty and senior Seamus Fitzhenry finished eight in the 200-yard freestyle. 

The women had a difficult time breaking top ten, Carney placed tenth in the 100-yard butterfly, Daly came in fourteenth in the 400 IM, sophomore Lauren de Toros finished thirteenth in the 100-yard breaststroke and Caruna finished in the same position in the 100-yard backstroke. It was the 200-yard freestyle team of first-years Madison Sullivan, Fitzgerald, Gallagher and Castro to break top ten, finishing in eighth place.

On the final day, Hall continued his streak smashing the school record for the 200-yard butterfly and coming in fifth. The men’s Raider 400-yard freestyle team secured a top ten finish as well, coming in eighth. For the lady Raiders, Laplante continued her impressive placements coming in fifth in the 3-meter dive to give her two top ten finishes. In her last race of her Colgate career Carey finished tenth in the 200-yard Butterfly, while Caruna finished twelfth in the 200-yard backstroke. The women were also able to claim sixth in the 400-yard freestyle with Gallagher, Tankle, Fitzgerald and first-year Emma Klein leading the way.

The Patriot League Championship caps off the season for both squads. The men finished 4-4 to end the year at .500 for the first time in over 14 seasons and the women finished 5-3, finishing with a winning record for the fourth straight year.

Contact Gideon Hamot at [email protected].