The Georgetown University swimming and diving team lost both sides of a Senior Day dual meet to the College of William & Mary Tribe at McCarthy Pool Jan. 25. The men’s team narrowly fell by a score of 133-129, and the women’s team lost 178-84.
The Hoyas entered the week suffering from a flu outbreak but had recovered almost completely in time for the meet. They dealt with the brunt of the illness in their Jan. 18 meet against George Washington University, with many key swimmers unavailable.
Head Coach Jack Leavitt said that, despite their run-in with illness, the team had been putting in good work.
“We had to modify some things we did last week into early this week,” Leavitt told The Hoya. “The crazy thing about having as many people as we’ve had out is that the work we’ve put in every day has been the best we’ve ever done.”
The Hoyas found their greatest success on the men’s side in the long-distance freestyle events. In the men’s 1,000-yard freestyle, first-year Wilson Tunila led the way with a time of 9:19.13. In second was senior Jack Januario with a time of 9:21.61. The third-place finisher, William & Mary’s Jackson Mueller, finished over 20 seconds behind the top two.
Tunila and Januario also finished first and second in the 500-yard freestyle. Tunila broke the pool record in the 500 free by over two seconds with a time of 4:31.68.
William & Mary does not have a diving team, so Georgetown’s divers competed against themselves. Sophomore Nico Santiago’s 356.18 score in the one meter set both McCarthy Pool and Georgetown records.
On the women’s side for the Hoyas, junior Angelica Reali took home first in the 200-yard butterfly, finishing three seconds clear of the Tribe’s Erin Langenburg. In the 200-yard IM relay, the opening event of the meet, Georgetown’s team of Reali, senior Maddie Haley, senior Genevieve Youngman and junior Ines Lovato finished just one-tenth of a second behind the first place William & Mary team.
Alongside the events, the Hoyas honored their 17 senior swimmers and divers. The first class after the COVID-19 pandemic, Leavitt credited their influence for helping reestablish a team identity, saying they worked hard in and out of the pool.
“This group never missed a lot of workouts,” Leavitt said. “They did super well academically. This is a group I never had to worry about.”
“They always took care of business and worked at a really high level,” he added.
The results of this effort are evident in their pedigree too, as Leavitt said this class of seniors has been very successful.
“These seniors have only experienced winning,” Leavitt said. “On the men’s side they’ve won three Big East titles. The women’s side just continues to march forward and get a little bit closer to the top.”
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and a suspension of all intercollegiate competition, the Hoyas could have stuttered and taken years to return to form, but they hit the ground running. Asked to characterize this year’s groups of seniors and their leadership in one word, Leavitt said “steady.”
The Hoyas will close out their regular season with an away meet at Seton Hall University Feb. 1, before moving onto the Big East championship in Geneva, Ohio Feb. 24. Georgetown’s men’s side will look to capitalize on their past season successes and put in a run for their fourth-straight Big East title, while the women’s side will look to continue to edge closer to a championship after taking third in the competition last year.
