It was just another day at the pool for the men’s and women’s swimming teams in their meets over the break. Both teams finished their round of meets by beating Southern Connecticut State University with convincing margins last Sunday Nov. 23. The Bulldogs began the break competing at the Terrier Invitational at Boston University with a limited travel roster. The men finished in fourth place, while the women finished in ninth. After getting their teams back in full force in New Haven, the men beat the Owls 181-112 while the women put up an equally impressive 178-117 final tally.

“I think we did well — we swam pretty decently considering we’ve been training pretty hard the past two days,” captain Alex Righi ’09 said. “They were not as good, not as competitive, so we didn’t really feel the need to make any special preparations to swim them.”

The men’s team won 11 of 16 events against Southern Connecticut State University, continuing their routing of opponents. As in the Columbia dual, diver Eric Olson ’11 started off the meet with a win in the three meter event (333.83) to put the Bulldogs ahead early; Colton Staab ’12 and Drew Teer ’10 finished in second and third place, respectively.

The men’s 200 yard medley relay, which included Thomas Robinson ’10, Matt Sweitzer ’09, Tyler Scheid ’09 and Righi, continued its dominance by recording another victory: They beat the Owls with a time of 1:36.07.

Showcasing the team’s depth this year, Scott Shinton ’12 won the 200-yard butterfly in his first-ever collegiate victory to continue the Bulldogs’ streak of freshmen coming away with their first wins.

“I think the freshman have really stepped up this year,” Righi said. “I wasn’t really surprised to see them get their collegiate victories, as good as that is. I think they’ve been doing their job well and being committed to the cause.”

On the women’s side, it was much of the same story. The Elis won 10 of 16 events against the Owls, after winning just six events against Columbia. In three of those 10 contests, the women also swept the first three places.

Captain Aidan McKinlay ’09 said that the team used the meet as more of a practice, so many of the swimmers did not compete in their usual events.

“I would say that we performed really well,” she said. “They are not as good as Columbia. They’re probably comparable to Dartmouth in our league. A lot of people didn’t swim in their primary events, and even with our squad not being in our top events, it shows that we are prepared and ready for the future.”

The first of the one-two-three finishes came in the three-meter diving event. Rachel Rosenberg ’12 (278.03), Lisa Andrekovich ’12 (257.55) and Marisa Poverman ’10 (249.83) took the top three places, respectively.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Alexis Mann ’09 finished in first place for the Bulldogs (24.84), while Erica Kao ’12 (25.62) and Andrea Clifford ’10 (25.63) finished in second and third place, respectively.

Susan Kim ’10 took first place in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.44. Teammates Mann (1:00.69) and Ileana Lucos ’11 (1:03.02) finished right behind her in second and third place, respectively, to further the Bulldogs’ margin of victory in the meet.

“I thought we did really well,” Kim said. “It’s not that challenging of a meet in terms of competition — it was just more of a mental challenge.”

She explained that the team had practice earlier in the day, which was physically taxing for many of the swimmers.

“It was a good chance to see how you could compete or how you could swim being totally physically broken down,” she concluded.

This weekend, both teams will be split up. Swimmers on the squads who qualified for nationals will compete at the USA Short Course Nationals in Atlanta, while the top 16 of those remaining will compete at the University of Virginia Invitational in Charlottesville, Va. Both will be held Dec. 4-6.