Hoyas Drown Bearcats

After warming up in the Potomac Relay Invitational last weekend, the Georgetown men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were ready to face SUNY Binghamton, a newcomer to Division I swimming. The men’s squad edged out the Bearcats 123.5-114.5, while the women easily surpassed their competition, 149 to 87.

The highlight of the meet included the diving events, where the Hoyas met with much-needed success. With the addition of several freshman divers, the women swept the top four spots on both boards. Freshman Juliana Bonilla, who finished first in both events, surpassed the Georgetown three-meter record (six dives) with a 255-point performance, more than 12 points better than the mark of 242.30 points set in 1996.

According to diving Coach Amy Wilkens Kress, Bonilla had only competed in championship competitions because her high school did not have a diving team.

“I was asking [Bonilla] what her typical six-dive scores were, and she couldn’t tell me. When she was done [on Saturday], she asked if her score was good,” Kress said.

The Georgetown men’s squad got off to a sour start. Although the 400-yard medley relay team of freshman Shodai Enters, senior Steve Brown, sophomore Bryan Evangelista and junior Chris Lengle cruised into the wall first with a time of 3:39.41, the two other Hoya relay teams, which would have racked in third and fourth-place points, were disqualified due to an early start and a turn violation.

Georgetown was neck and neck with Binghamton throughout the first two-thirds of the meet, but rallied to pull out of reach of the Bearcats. The turning point of the meet came when junior Matt O’Connor came from behind to place third in the 200-yard breaststroke, sweeping the event for the Hoyas. Brown touched first in 2:16.69, followed closely by senior Rich Dennis, who turned in a 2:17.82. O’Conner came in at 2:25.37.

“I knew every point that the men got was important. If att [O’Connor] had gotten fourth, it would have been the difference in the meet,” Head Coach Beth Bower said.

Another key race for Georgetown was the 100-yard freestyle. Lengle dominated the field, winning in a time of 48.43, and Evangelista touched out the Bearcats’ Aytac Gurbuz by four one-hundredths of a second, with a 49.48 to secure the lead. Lengle also took first in the 50-yard freestyle with a 22.07, again topping Gurbuz, this time by 0.12 seconds.

The Hoyas also dominated the 500-yard freestyle event, with junior Will Miller taking first and freshman Edmund Caulfield taking second with times of 5:04.44 and 5:04.46, respectively.

The only other record set in the meet came from Binghampton’s Chris McGuire, who topped the old mark of 1:57.40 set in 1988 with his time of 1:56.58.

On the women’s side, depth was the key to their solid victory. Georgetown’s distance swimmers dominated, sweeping both the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle events. Sophomore Lauren oynihan (10:48.36) and freshmen Erin Kehoe (10:59.78) and Colleen Newman (11:03.35) took the top three spots in the 1,000, while junior Amanda Anderson (5:23.85), Newman (5:25.00) and Kehoe (5:25.13) swept the medal spots in the 500-yard event.

Other top finishes came in the sprint events. Sophomores Erin Lenahan (25.76) and Liz D’Auria (27.04) placed first and second, respectively.

The Hoyas also swept the 200-yard butterfly. Sophomore Katie Hayes led the pack with a 2:16.50 time. Junior Lauren Schmidt and freshman Claire Cole rounded out the top three with times of 2:17.10 and 2:20.53, respectively.

“We knew we had a tremendous amount of depth. We have no senior women, but we’re strong,” Bower said of the women’s squad.

The season’s first dual meet produced several Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference qualifications. Moynihan and Kehoe easily qualified for the 1,650-yard freestyle, while Bonilla’s score also surpassed the cut-off.

Bower was pleased with the Hoyas’ performances this weekend.

“This year, I think I’ve seen better attitudes, better practice attendance, harder work effort, and it just continues to get stronger,” she said. “We got it done, and that’s the difference. That is just more strength, momentum and more confidence. We have three tough weeks coming up, and we have to get ready for the George Mason Invite, and I expect everyone to swim out of their minds.”

Georgetown will travel to Baltimore, Md., this weekend to face off against Loyola at 1 p.m.

“Loyola is always a great meet for us – two Catholic schools going at each other,” Bower said.