Last weekend, the Colgate women’s swimming and diving team headed to Happy Valley to face two very strong Penn State and West Virginia squads in a tri-meet. Colgate lost to nationally ranked Penn State 92-21, and fell to West Virginia 74-39.

Despite finding themselves on the losing end of the meet, Colgate swimmers performed very well, according to Head Coach Stephen Jungbluth.

“My perspective on the situation is that we stood up to Goliath and did not tremble. I am significantly more confident that our women can compete for a conference title this year than I was previously,” Coach Jungbluth said.  

Jungbluth has plenty of confidence in this year’s squad, and rightly so. First-year Kim Pilka posted arguably the strongest performance on the team by placing first in the three-meter diving event, with a total score of 244.35. Pilka also placed third in the 1-meter board event, posting a total score of 239.00. The 400-medley relay team swam Colgate’s sixth fastest time in history, finishing in 3:50.48. Sophomore Erica Derlath took second place in the 1650, finishing in 17:05.37, the third-fastest time in Colgate history. Senior Caitlin Curran, first-year Lia Kunnapas, junior Erin McGraw, fist-year Emma Santoro and junior Caren Guyett all added to Colgate’s tally of top-5 finishes at the meet. Kunnapas took third in the 200 back as well as fifth in the 50 free. Guyett followed the 400 medley’s performance with a third place finish of her own in the 200 fly. Curran and Santoro took fourth and fifth in the 200 breast, and McGraw took fifth place in the 100 free.

Despite taking the loss in the opening meet of the season, Coach Jungbluth and the team appear confident and have set their sights on another league championship. The next meet for the Raiders is on November 7, when they will head to Chestnut Hill to face off against Boston College.