The Georgetown swimming and diving teams travelled to the Berkeley Aquatic Club in New Providence, N.J., last weekend to face two Big East competitors, Seton Hall and Providence.

Both the men’s and women’s teams defeated the Providence Friars but fell to the Seton Hall Pirates. The men’s team scored 186-93 and 92-205, while the women’s team scored 217.5-80.5 and 106.5-193.5.

The teams’ plan shifted to account for some illnesses and injuries while still focusing on making improvements to their races, according to Head Coach Jack Leavitt.

“The idea was to not worry so much about the time up on the board but more so on the smaller aspects of our races. We saw some really good things in terms of how we get off the blocks, get in and out of our turns, split races,” Leavitt said.

Both of the diving teams had a strong showing against the Big East competition. The women’s team dominated in the 1-meter dive with sophomore Elizabeth Miler placing first, freshman Naomi Peng second and freshman Riley Fujioka third. Fujioka placed first on her 3-meter dive, breaking a program record with her score of 302.50.

On the men’s side, sophomore Griffin Edmonds placed first in both the 1- and 3-meter dives, with sophomore Matthew Werner following in third and second, respectively.

Senior Molly Fitzpatrick commented on the swim teams’ morale this past weekend.

“Some people did events they don’t normally swim, so it was more about being a team, having fun and having a positive attitude going into the meet,” Fitzpatrick said. “We raced teams that we are going to see in a few weeks, and we had some good swims so this weekend was good.”

In the 200-yard butterfly, sophomores Lauren Henasey and Cristina Barrett placed in first and second, respectively, with times of 2:07.30 and 2:10.95. Barrett came in first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:08.66, nearly seven seconds quicker than the second-place time.

The men’s 400-yard freestyle relay also placed first with a team of sophomore Terry Johnson, freshman Drew Carbone, junior Seth Maslowski and freshman Andrew Stange. The team achieved a time of 3:10.88, beating Seton Hall by just 0.23 seconds.

The men’s and women’s teams have two weeks to prepare for their final meet of the season, the Big East Championships. Leavitt stressed the need to work efficiently during the squads’ sparse training window.

“We have to make sure that everything we do has an impact. We need to be using the less time we have well, doing everything very sharply, cleanly and focused,” Leavitt said.

The emphasis is on making sure the teams are prepared both mentally and physically, according to Fitzpatrick.

“These two weeks are crucial because we start coming down in yardage, when we start resting a little bit…it’s a lot about taking care of our bodies and making sure we are resting,” she said. “We are putting the finishing touches on all our races; we’ve put in all the training at this point, so it’s just gearing up and getting ready.”

Fitzpatrick also noted the team’s enthusiasm about its upcoming preparation for the tournament.

“We have the best team we’ve had at this school before. We have been training hard and have a strong team in terms of depth, so I think it’s going to be exciting to see what we pull out and do,” Fitzpatrick said.

After consistent, impressive runner-up results in recent history, Leavitt hopes to finally reach the top spot.

“We’ve finished second in the conference the last four years on both sides, so there are goals to try to finish better than that. Everyone’s just excited to get there and see how we stack up against the rest of the Big East,” Leavitt said.

The team will travel to Geneva, Ohio, in just under two weeks for the four-daylong Big East Championship tournament beginning Wednesday, Feb. 21.