The Georgetown swimming and diving team failed to come out with a top finish on both the men’s and women’s side as they travelled to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. to compete in the two-day Rutgers Quad Meet.
A quartet of universities participated in the women’s meet, in which the Blue and Gray finished third, triumphing over Seton Hall, while falling to both Villanova and host Rutgers. In the men’s match, Seton Hall and Villanova each defeated Georgetown in the overall team competition.
Despite the outcome, Georgetown Head Coach Jack Leavitt was impressed with the team’s performance and expressed a desire to continue this run of solid results against staunch competition.
“Everybody had one of their fastest races of the season this past weekend, so we’re not necessarily thinking about improving, but rather continuing that run on,” Leavitt said.
The men’s competition was comprised of three Big East schools: Georgetown, Seton Hall and Villanova. The Blue and Gray’s performances were littered with third and fourth place results. The most exciting of these finishes undoubtedly occurred in the 100-yard freestyle event, in which just .63 seconds separated the second and fifth place finishers. Sophomore Jacob Kohlhoff took fourth with a time of 47.82, finishing only .57 seconds behind second place.
In the 100-yard backstroke, just .15 seconds separated junior Edward Spinelli and freshman Henry Hollinshead, as the duo placed third and fourth respectively, with times of 53.34 and 53.49. Two other Hoyas — sophomore Arthur Wang and junior Matt Glockenmeier — also finished third and fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke, touching the wall with times of 59.49 and 1:00.19. Wang and Glockenmeier remained deadlocked in the 200-yard breaststroke, with only .05 seconds separating the twosome, clocking times of 2:10.39 and 2:10.44, respectively.
A trio of Hoyas participated in the 100-yard butterfly, as seniors David Chung and Martin Vanin placed third and fourth, while sophomore Justin Summers finished sixth. Summers rounded out the Hoyas’ individual performances, taking fifth in the 200-yard butterfly after touching the wall in 1:56.18.
A bevy of second place finishes served as a microcosm of the Blue and Grey’s overall efforts—very respectable showings against top-shelf opponents. Among these second places finishes was a nail-biting 100-yard backstroke from senior Katie Duncalf, who touched the wall after 57.39 seconds, just .53 seconds before a duo of Wildcat counterparts. As a senior leader, Duncalf looks towards the future of Georgetown swimming and hopes to leave an indelible legacy through both leadership and performance.
“I want to teach people that Georgetown Swimming has so much potential and is getting better each year with each recruiting class,” Duncalf said.
Junior Molly Fitzpatrick took second in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 1:06.24; her Hoya teammate, sophomore Katie King, came in fourth with a time of 1:07.60. Cristina Barrett, a freshman, was runner-up in the 1650-yard freestyle, as she completed the nearly mile-long race with a time of 17:26.87. The fourth and final second-place finish came from sophomore Laine Morgan, whose time of 56.34 in the 100-yard butterfly left her tantalizingly close to a first place decision, as Morgan was a mere .33 seconds behind the winner. Capping off the women’s performance was a third-place result in the 400-yard medley relay, which featured Duncalf, Fitzpatrick, Morgan, and freshman Morgan Conley–the foursome touched the wall with a time of 3:52.65. In her third race of the weekend, Duncalf took third in the 200-yard backstroke, completing the event in 2:03.74.
Senior diver Jared Cooper-Vespa’s performance in the 3-meter dive represented the Blue and Gray’s only victorious effort of the weekend, winning the competition with 280.35 points, while teammates sophomore Ryan Blom and freshman Griffon Edmonds took second and third, respectively.
Georgetown will resume competition this Saturday, travelling to Old Dominion University to compete in a dual meet.
