The Colgate women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams faced a dual meet against Binghamton on Saturday, October 28 in Lineberry Natatorium. Although a hard fight, both teams fell to the Binghampton Bearcats. The women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams now have a record of 0-2 to start the season. 

After a close matchup against Loyola the previous week, the women’s swimming and diving team was hoping to finish with a victory against Binghamton. However, the women’s team came up just short with a 162-134 loss.

First-year Beth Caruana had a stellar performance, claiming the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke titles. Caruana had a clip of 59.54 in the 100-yard backstroke and a mark of 2:09.44 for the 200-yard backstroke, two impressive statistics. Another first-year, Caroline LaPlante, finished the meet with two wins. LaPlante swept the diving events, a repeat of last week’s match against Loyola. LaPlante finished the 1-meter podium with 220.57 points and the 3-meter podium with 250.65 points. With a time of 2:25.59, sophomore Kiersten Daly took home the 200-yard backstroke. Daly followed with the 200-yard individual medley (IM) title, touching the wall in 2:10.45. Although a hard effort was put forth by the entire team, these three Raiders showed exceptional skill. 

Overall, this was a frustrating start to the Raiders season-opening meets. The women’s team has three meets in eight days, so they will be able to work hard and finish with a winning record. 

“We were a little short handed today. We raced so hard but just came up short in a few key races,” head coach Andy Waeger said.

The men’s team faced a similar outcome against Binghamton with a 192-105 loss. Four different Raiders earned event titles, but the Raiders were not able to pull out the win. 

The Raiders showed some impressive statistics on Saturday. Junior Max Michael won the 200-yard freestyle race with a time of 1:46.85. Sophomore Colton Hall finished first in the 100-yard butterfly with a clip of 52.00 seconds. First-years Andrew Kelemen and Ehran Hodes took the top two spots in the 1,000 yard-freestyle with times of 10:20.56 and 10:20.72. 

The Raiders also claimed the top four sports in the 200-yard IM. First-year Camden Koch took first place with a time of 2:01.32, with junior Trey Johnson following with a time of 2:06.47. Sophomore Ian Flowers finished in fourth place with a time of 2:12.94, a close gap from Hodes in third with 2.11.30. The Raiders 400-yard freestyle relay team of Michael, Hall, sophomore Hank Alderoty and sophomore Andrew Karsh finished second place with a time of 3:16.29. 

“We faced a very deep Binghamton team today and although we didn’t have the depth, we had some quality races. We will get back to work on a few things and continue to prepare and race hard,” Waeger said. 

The women’s and men’s swimming and diving team are set to welcome Canisius and Niagara to finish out their season-opening homestand. The Raiders will face Canisius at 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 4 before the meet against Niagara at noon on Sunday, November 5, both held in Lineberry Natatorium.

Contact Cassie Warwick at [email protected].