Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Swimming & Diving | GU Falls in Philadelphia

FILE PHOTO: NATE MOULTON/THE HOYA  Senior Will Lawler finished fifth in the 200 freestyle against Drexel on Saturday.
FILE PHOTO: NATE MOULTON/THE HOYA
Senior Will Lawler finished fifth in the 200 freestyle against Drexel on Saturday.

Following a successful Senior Day weekend at home on Jan. 16 and Jan. 17, Georgetown’s swimming and diving team traveled to Philadelphia last weekend to face Drexel University on the Dragons’ own Senior Day celebration. Despite strong performances from a number of the team’s standouts, including sophomore diver Jared Cooper-Vespa and junior Erica Fabbri, both teams suffered disappointing defeats. The men’s team fell by a score of 191-109, while the women’s team was defeated 160-140.

The meet against Drexel followed a competitive showing from Georgetown at home in a four-way meet that was the Hoyas’ first in over a month, as the Hoyas mostly trained over winter break. After its first meet of 2015, senior and co-captain Jamie Gallagher said that the team was, “really excited to put that training to good use,” which the team made clear in its second-straight meet in as many weeks.

Led by Cooper-Vespa, the Hoya divers continued their recent upward trend with a solid meet. The men’s diving duo of Cooper-Vespa and freshman Benjamin Goodfriend submitted two standout performances, with Cooper-Vespa winning both the 1-meter and the 3-meter diving events and Goodfriend finishing right behind him in second place in both events.

For the women’s team, Fabbri contributed a whopping four top-two finishes. Individually, she won the 50-yard freestyle by a slim 0.25 second margin, and also finished first in the 100 butterfly, also by a margin of less than one second.

Fabbri’s second place finishes were also close races as Fabbri finished in second place in the 100 freestyle, only 0.29 seconds behind Drexel freshman Aubrey Murray. Fabbri capped her day by anchoring one of Georgetown’s 400 individual medley relay teams, which finished second, just 0.82 seconds behind a Drexel team.

Both the men’s and women’s teams were able to take some solace in the performance of their young swimmers, as multiple freshmen made significant contributions for both teams. Madeline Quinn recorded first-place finishes in the women’s 1000 freestyle and the 400 individual medley. In the 400 medley, Quinn narrowly edged Drexel freshman Miranda Rouse by a narrow 0.29 second margin. No other swimmer finished within eight seconds of the top two finishers.

Quinn’s fellow freshman Christine Ryan also won her event, the women’s 500 freestyle, with a time of 5:09.32. Along with the rest of the freshmen who have performed well throughout the season, Ryan, who won the 200-yard freestyle event at the team’s home meet against American University, has continually provided hope for future Hoya success in the pool.

For the men’s team, freshman Daniel Ross won the 200 freestyle, narrowly edging Drexel sophomore Matthew Klotz. In addition to finishing with the top spot in his shorter event, Ross also finished second in the 400 individual medley. Another freshman, Chase Ladman, won the men’s 500 freestyle.

The Hoyas also enjoyed an area of strength in the distance freestyle events. In addition to Quinn, Ryan and Ladman’s triumphs in their respective freestyle races, junior Austin Evenson won the men’s 1000 freestyle, allowing Georgetown to sweep the four long-distance freestyle events, earning four consecutive first-place finishes.

The women’s team also received a strong contribution from junior Lauren Ward. Ward won the women’s 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:12.82.

On the women’s side of the diving team, senior Lauren Kahan finished in second in the women’s 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, finishing behind Drexel freshman Madison Kramer in both.

Despite several strong individual performances from the Hoyas, Drexel was able to weather the storm by countering with a number of standouts of its own. In addition to winning the 100 freestyle, Drexel sophomore Aubrey Murray also won the 200 freestyle, while junior Madison Kramer captured two events in the diving categories.

On the men’s side, Drexel junior Joel Berryman won both of the short-distance freestyle events — the 50- and 100-yard events — and senior Michael Krohn won the 100 and 200 butterfly races. Meanwhile, junior Kyle Lukens won both the 100 backstroke and the 400 individual medley. These performances led the Dragons to comprehensive victories over the competitive and improved Hoya squads.

Georgetown will have the better part of two weeks to work to improve their times in preparation for a tri-meet against Rutgers University and Providence College in Piscataway, N.J. on Feb. 7, which is the final regular season meet before the Big East Championships.

With one meet standing between Georgetown and the Big East Championships, the Hoyas want to remain focused and healthy as they close out their season.

“In the next month, illness and injury are going to be things that we need to keep an eye on. [We will] try to just stay healthy and keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Head Coach Jamie Holder said in an interview prior to the Drexel meet.

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