Lucye Rafferty/The Hoya Freshman Alexandria Sanders speeds down the lane during a breaststroke race Saturday. The Hoyas had their best showing in freestyle, sweeping all four events.
For this first time in four years, the Georgetown swimming and diving teams lost to Loyola College. At home in the McCarthy Natatorium on Saturday, the men’s team fell 136.5-104.5 and the women’s team lost by a slim margin of 130-113 in their first dual meet of the fall season.
“We swam as well as we could,” said head coach Bethany Bower. “We kept it close until the end. The men’s meet wasn’t decided until the 500yd freestyle, and the women’s wasn’t decided until the breaststroke.”
Even with the team loss, both the men and women put up strong individual performances. On the men’s side, junior Kevin Walsh led the Hoyas with two second-place finishes in the 100yd butterfly and the 100yd backstroke.
“Kevin is really going to show us a lot this year,” said Bower. “He swam two races close together, which most swimmers can’t do. He’s very talented and he just keeps getting better every year.”
Other strong performances were put in by sophomore Kevin Rieffel and freshman Josh Bair, who each took a second- and third-place finish. Rieffel placed second in the 1,000yd freestyle and third in 500yd freestyle, with times of 10:23.62 and 5:05.79, respectively. Bair finished in 1:51.29 in the 200yd free, which was good enough to get him second place, while his time of 57.13 seconds in the 100yd butterfly earned him third.
For the women, senior Colleen Newman and sophomore Katie Amaro registered the top performances, each taking two first-place finishes. Newman claimed victory in the 1,000yd and 500yd freestyle races, while Amaro took first in the 200yd and 100yd freestyle, giving the Hoyas a clean sweep in the freestyle events. Freshman Liz Nugent also placed well for the Hoyas, taking second in the 200yd individual medley and the 100yd backstroke.
“I was really impressed with Katie,” said Bower. “She had a cortisone shot in her shoulder on Tuesday and took two days off after, so to come back and swim like she did is remarkable. Hopefully this will be able to get her through the season.”
In diving, freshman Terry Huang was the men’s top performer of the day, taking first in both the one- and three-meter events. For the women, seniors Juliana Bonilla and Kathryn Harrison each placed twice, but were unable to defeat freshman Megan Sterback of Loyola who swept the women’s competition. Bonilla placed second in the three meter and third in the one meter, while Harrison placed second in the one meter and third in the three meter.
“Juliana and Kathyrn are both experienced divers,” Bower said. “Kathryn was abroad last year so she has come back this year with renewed energy and Juliana has been a standout all three years she has been here. Terry comes from Rosebowl Aquatics, the same program as Juliana, which is a top notch program, so he comes in with a lot of experience.”
The Hoyas next take on the University of Delaware, with the Blue Hens playing host on Saturday at 1 p.m. Delaware’s men’s team will be looking for their first win of the season, while the women of Delaware will hope to stay undefeated after early season victories over William and Mary as well as Old Dominion.