In their first official competition since the Terrier Invitational in late November, the Georgetown University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams dominated against Johns Hopkins on Friday, Jan. 20, before dropping their matchup to George Washington on Saturday, Jan. 21 at the McCarthy Pool.
Georgetown’s women’s team started Friday afternoon’s meet hot, securing both first and second place in the 200-yard medley relay. Senior Corey Moon followed suit, winning the first individual event, the 1000 freestyle. Moon finished the distance race in 10:24:59, 6 seconds before Meg Susil of Johns Hopkins.
The Hoyas saw numerous strong performances from some of the youngest members of the team. Sophomore Maddie Haley and first-year Allie Sanchez took first and second place in the 100 backstroke event. First-year Alex Breuer won the 100 breaststroke, while fellow first-year Angelica Reali shined by winning three different events. Reali stood at the top of the podium following the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke.
Georgetown’s women divers also dominated, sweeping Johns Hopkins in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. Senior Emilie Ginovker took the gold in the 3-meter dive with a score of 260.10, whereas Ginovker tied with sophomore Wynter Bramao at 220.05 points for the 1-meter.
The Georgetown men’s team also came out victorious against Johns Hopkins on Friday with a decisive 159-132 final score, utilizing their victories in both team relays and individual races to propel themselves to their sixth dual-meet win.
The 200 medley relay team won the first men’s event by just 0.03 seconds before sophomore Jack Brearton won the 200 freestyle, his first of two first-place finishes. Brearton also secured first in the 200 IM.
Other impressive performances for the Hoyas include senior Michael Baldini’s impressively fast 21.14 second finish in the 50 freestyle, and the senior duo of Sean Percin and Josiah Lauver taking first and second place respectively in the 100 freestyle. Just like the women, the men’s diving team swept the podium in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
Following the wins, Georgetown saw a quick turnaround for their noon meet with George Washington on Saturday. Despite both sides losing, the women 143-92 and the men 133-108, Head Coach Jack Leavitt was not disappointed with the outcome, focusing mainly on Georgetown’s positive results as opposed to comparing times with its different opponents.
“I was really happy with both days in terms of our results,” Leavitt said in a phone interview with The Hoya. “You cannot stop the other team from doing what they are going to do, as the scores were a little different from Friday to Saturday, but I was really happy with how we competed.”
Both the women’s and men’s teams saw impressive results in a variety of events, even with the loss on Saturday
For the women’s team, the triumvirate of Breuer, senior Samantha Kim and junior Emily Giesler swept the top three spots of the 200 breaststroke. The Hoyas also saw decisive first-through-third place finishes in the women’s 400 freestyle relay and 1-meter dive. Sophomore Stephen Kim, first-year Tomo Nozaki and first-year Nick Pezzella all medaled in the men’s 200 breaststroke.
Saturday’s meet also served as Senior Day, with Georgetown honoring the 14 seniors and graduate students who competed in their final home meet.
Leavitt said the outstanding leadership the seniors and graduates demonstrated over the course of the season deserves recognition.
“What’s really unique about this group is how seamless they are and how well they preserve our team culture,” Leavitt said. “Their leadership from top to bottom, not just captains, really puts our team in a good position for this last month.”
The last month of the season will see Georgetown travel north for a dual meet against Seton Hall before preparing for the Big East Championship from Feb. 22 to Feb. 25.
