The Georgetown men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams finished in fifth and fourth place, respectively, at the Patriot Invitational hosted by George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
The men’s team finished with 382 points, while the women’s team concluded the weekend with 417 points. Both teams improved upon last year’s point totals, with a 176-point gain for the men, and a 29-point gain for the women.
“The kids responded well to the training we’ve been doing,” Head Coach Jamie Holder said. “They’re working hard and they want to be fast, [which is why] they ended up doing well this [past] weekend.”
This year’s Patriot Invitational, an annual swimming and diving tournament hosted by George Mason at the Jim McKay Natatorium in Fairfax, Va., pitted the Hoyas against other regional swimming powerhouses including Maryland-Baltimore County, North Carolina-Wilmington, George Mason, Seton Hall, Shippensburg, George Washington, American and Howard.
Against such formidable opposition, the Blue and Gray managed to hold their own throughout the Patriot Invitational’s 41 events.
“This competition is probably the toughest to get through in terms of so many swims in a short number of days,” Holder said. “It’s just a longer process.”
However, both men’s and women’s teams managed to achieve impressive results.
“I was more focused on getting the kids to swim fast, and the points were going to take care of themselves,” Holder said.
Relay Events
In the second event of the tournament, the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay, Georgetown finished in third-place behind UNC-Wilmington and UMBC. The Georgetown squad, made up of freshmen Spencer Walsh and Matthew Mandel, sophomore Ken Ryan and junior Jens Brenninkmeyer finished in 1:25.16, two seconds behind first-place UNC-Wilmington and second-place UMBC.
On Saturday, Georgetown came in third in the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay behind George Mason and UMBC. A team made up of senior Megan Harvey, senior Mallory Kiplinger, sophomore Samantha Kietlinski and freshman Lauren Opatrny posted a time of 7:40.59, eight seconds behind first-place UMBC. The same Georgetown team would finish fourth by less than a second in the 400-yard freestyle relay on Sunday, with a time of 3:29.11.
In the men’s 200-yard medley relay on Saturday, the Blue and Gray finished fifth, falling to North Carolina, Shippensburg, UMBC and Seton Hall. The Georgetown team of junior Greg Germain, junior Vic Lopez-Cantera, senior Thomas Graham and Brenninkmeyer finished in 1:35.32, one second behind fourth-place Seton Hall and three seconds behind first-place North Carolina.
On the final day of competition, Georgetown continued its impressive performance in the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay. The Blue and Gray, represented by Ryan, Lopez-Cantera, Brenninkmeyer and Mandel, finished four seconds behind first-place UNC-Wilmington with a time of 3:08.6.
Individual Events
In the individual component of the competition, several Hoyas reached the championship finals in their respective events.
One of the most notable performances last weekend was from Lauren Opatrny, who reached the final eight in three events – the 200-yard medley, the 400-yard medley and the 100-yard backstroke.
“We put some pressure on our freshmen to perform, especially Lauren Opatrny,” Holder said. “She probably had the toughest schedule of anybody on the team . and she ended up getting top eight in several events.”
On Saturday, Kietlinski claimed first place for the Hoyas in the women’s 200-yard freestyle, with a time of 1:51.88, barely edging out UMBC’s junior Abbey McKenney.
Other members of the Blue and Gray to reach the top eight included sophomore Paul Quincy, who finished fifth in the 500-yard freestyle; freshman Christian Kilgore, who placed seventh in the 200-yard medley, sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke and fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke; senior Ray Zomerfield, who finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke and seventh in the 400-yard medley; Harvey, who finished second in the 100-yard butterfly and seventh in the 200-yard butterfly; Kiplinger, who finished eighth in the women’s 200-yard freestyle; senior Thomas Graham, who finished fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke; Kristin Pratt, who finished eighth in the 200-yard butterfly; and finally, Lopez-Cantera, who placed third in the 200-yard butterfly.
In diving, Georgetown also had several Hoyas reach the top eight. Sophomore Shannon Donohue reached the finals in both three-meter and one-meter diving, finishing seventh and fifth in the events respectively.
Other Hoyas to advance to the finals were senior Caitlin Karniski, who finished seventh in one-meter diving, and junior Brian McCallister, who finished eighth in three-meter diving.
“I was happy with how we swam. We had more top-eight swims than last year,” Holder said. “Everybody had a season-best time. We broke several school records. . It was a great weekend for us.”
Following this weekend, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving team will continue training in anticipation of their next meet. The Hoyas will play host to American and James Madison on Jan. 15.
“We’re not going to be resting for the next two weeks,” Holder said. “We’re going to ramp up the training again and gear up toward the final portion of our season.”
