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 | Women Break Records and Place Third, Men Place Fourth at Bucknell

The Georgetown swimming and diving team had an intense weekend, competing over three days at the Bucknell Invitational in Lewisburg, Pa. Both the men and women finished among the top-four teams in the meet, with the women breaking several program records in the process.

After 40 total events for both teams, the women finished in third place overall with 861 points, falling behind Bucknell University (1631 points) and Fordham University (1097.5 points). The men finished in fourth place overall with 709.5 total as Yale University took first place (1762 points), followed by Bucknell University (1147 points) and La Salle University (1124.5 points).

“We were prepared to swim fast and perform well as a team this weekend,” Head Coach James Holden said. “We weren’t necessarily worried about what other teams were doing, but more focused on what we could control.”

Following Friday’s seven events, the women’s team ranked third among eight teams while the men’s team was in fifth place among nine teams.

Freshmen Bailey Page and Kirstin Peterson and juniors Erin Timochenko and Erica Fabbri broke a Georgetown record for the women’s 200-yard freestyle quartet with a time of 1:34.94. The record-breaking time put the Hoyas in third place.

The men’s team finished fourth when it competed in the same event. Sophomore Will Leach, freshman Chandler Hinson, senior Michael Young and junior Michael Smigelski finished the race in 1:24.27 to place fourth in the men’s relay.

Sophomore Katie Duncalf, freshman Haley Owens, Fabbri and Page finished third in the women’s 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:48.29, which also set a new Georgetown record.

In the men’s 50-yard freestyle, Leach finished fourth overall with a time of 21.03.

Sophomore Jared Cooper-Vespa wrapped up Friday’s events with a fourth-place finish in the diving competition, scoring 290.20 points.

The women held their third-place spot and the men moved up to fourth place after Saturday’s events.

Page led the women with the strongest individual performance of the meet. Page competed in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:51.05 to earn the Hoyas’ first victory of the weekend.

“Bailey had a great weekend with all her races,” Holden said. “She had all best times in her individual events and the 200 free was a university record. She was an integral part of our strong relays as well. She loves to compete and is a great racer.”

Freshman Christine Ryan, who finished second in the women’s 500-yard freestyle on Friday, followed close behind Page with a third-place finish and a time of 1:51.59.

Fabbri finished fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.32 while Peterson finished eighth.

For the men, sophomore Martin Vanin finished third in the men’s 100-yard butterfly with a time of 49.69 and sophomore David Chung finished seventh.

The women had 553.5 points going into Sunday, giving the team the momentum it needed to finish strong on the final day of competition. Duncalf led the team by breaking another program record with her time of 2:03.57 in the preliminary round of the women’s 200-yard backstroke. Duncalf qualified for Group A finals, where she finished in eighth place.

Page, Fabbri and Peterson, who competed in the freestyle race for the women, placed second, fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle Group A finals,

The 400-yard freestyle relay quartet continued its success from Friday and finished second overall with a time of 3:25.49.

Freshman Molly Fitzpatrick finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke finals with a time 2:20.23, after breaking a program record during the morning preliminary round with a 2:19.65.

The relay team of Chung, Leach, Smigelski and Hinson led the men with its fifth place finish in the 400-yard freestyle. They completed their race in a time of 3:07.20.

The Hoyas were pleased with the results of their races, but they were also happy to have the opportunity to race in an environment that will be similar to one of their most important meets of the season.

“This was good experience for our team in getting prepared for Big East championships as the competition was a very similar format as our championships will be in February,” Holden said. “I knew if we swam to our potential, which I felt we did, that the points and team scoring would take care of itself.”

The Hoyas will return to the pool Dec. 6 when they face off against Howard University at 1 p.m. at McCarthy Pool.

“I think we will be focusing on some versatility next weekend with our line up against Howard,” Holden said. “We need to get back to focusing on training for the second half of the season at this point.”

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