Georgetown’s swimming and diving team celebrated Senior Day in style, with cheers of “Hoya Saxa!” reverberating through McCarthy Pool as the Blue and Gray handily defeated local rival George Washington.
Facing the Colonials for the second time this season, the Hoyas got off to a hot start and kept it up through the entire meet. Georgetown won the first four races, the men’s and women’s 400-yard medley relays and 1,000 freestyles. Especially impressive was sophomore Sarah Chiles, who set a school record in the 1,000 freestyle.
Freshman Lauren Opatrny set another record in the 100 backstroke, while her classmate, Rosemary Christian, prevailed in the 100 breaststroke. The Hoya men swept the top three spots in the latter contest, led by freshman Christian Kilgore.
Junior Kristen Pratt won the 200 butterfly in near-record time. GWU had no swimmers in the men’s division of that race, leading to chants of “all the points” in the gallery as junior Trevor Kosmo took the uncontested race.
Georgetown’s Amy Ballanfant led the way in the 50 freestyle. Drama ensued on the men’s side when a false start led to chaos in the pool, and after review, GWU junior Marshall Seedorff was disqualified. Georgetown freshman Matt Mandel and junior Jens Brenninkmeyer tied for first place when the race was run again.
When the meet briefly adjourned to the diving well, it was senior Caitlin Karniski’s time to shine. Karniski broke her own school record as she seeks to defend her finalist spot in last year’s Big East championship. Juniors Brian McCallister and Angela Pontes also turned in strong performances, qualifying for the Big East tournament.
Senior Mallory Kiplinger scored a win in the 100 freestyle when the teams returned to the lanes, and GWU’s Seedorff made amends for his disqualification minutes before by edging Mandel in the men’s race.
Opatrny was victorious in the women’s 200 backstroke, but the Colonials took first and second place on the men’s side.
The women’s 200 breaststroke came down to a thrilling finish as Christian nipped GWU freshman Rachael Johnston at the end after a lengthy head-to-head duel. Senior Ray Zomerfeld won the division for the Hoya men.
Another GWU freshman, Caroline Myers, won the women’s 500 freestyle while Georgetown sophomore Paul Quincy trounced the competition — and his own record — when he coasted to victory by 19 seconds in the men’s division.
The 100 butterfly came next, with the Hoyas loaded on both sides. Senior Megan Harvey won for the women while sophomore Colleen McClintock finished third. On the men’s side, junior Victor Lopez-Cantera was victorious, with junior Greg Germain finishing second and Kosmo rounding out the top three.
Senior Day honors followed, with teammates reading brief biographies of the seven seniors: Alex Hanson, Megan Harvey, Karniski, Kiplinger, Zomerfeld, Thomas Graham and Keenan Timko. Finally all the team members united on the poolside opposite the gallery and began a raucous “We are Georgetown!” cheer.
The final four races of the afternoon were up next, with GWU prevailing in both the men’s and women’s 400-yard individual medley. The first Georgetown women’s team won the 400 freestyle relay, saving the most dramatic race of the day for last. The Georgetown men dueled with the Colonials in their relay for the entire race but came up heartbreakingly short, losing by six-tenths of a second.
The final results had the Georgetown men prevailing by a count of 161-110 and the women overcoming the Colonials, 168-104.
A boisterous crowd of about 100 people who filled the gallery — many donning shirts that read “Bolder with Holder,” a reference to first-year Georgetown Head Coach Jamie Holder — were thrilled with the Blue and Gray’s strong performances on the day.
Georgetown has one meet left — a Feb. 5 showdown against Maryland — before the Big East championship, which begins on Feb. 11 in Louisville, Ky.
