Just two scrimmage meets into the season, Alex Forrester ’13 has already broken a Kiphuth Exhibition Pool record with her time of 23.24 in the 50-yard freestyle race against Colgate.
Forrester, backed by a legion of strong freshmen on both the men’s and women’s teams, propelled the Bulldogs to victories on both Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday, the men’s and women’s teams both defeated McGill in a scrimmage, while on Sunday the women’s team claimed a second victory against Colgate, 164-79.
“We swam really well,” swimmer Jared Lovett ’13 said. “We are even better than last year.”
Yale dominated the scoreboard in almost every event during Family Weekend. The Bulldogs relinquished just three first place times to McGill’s top swimmer Steven Bielby, who won a narrow victory in the 200 IM by under a second.
Forrester said a major part of Yale’s success this preseason has been the class of 2015.
“We have a great class of freshmen,” she said. “They have great energy, and they’re really excited about swimming.”
Tyler Pramer ’15, a diver, said the freshmen bring to the table not only great individual stats, but also a more focused mindset. He added everyone is always on the same page both in and out of the pool.
The new mindset has brought both the men’s and women’s teams together to post their best times on Saturday. This trend continued on Sunday, when the women’s team jumped right off a long Saturday meet to win almost every event.
The Bulldogs swiped the top three scores in diving. Paige Meneses ’13 capitalized on the one-meter diving event. Her consistency paid off with a first place win. Captain Rachel Rosenberg ’12 posted the highest number of the meet with an eight on her last dive, placing her second overall. Lauren Gardanier ’15 secured third place at the meet, locking Colgate out of a top spot.
In the swimming events, Joan Weaver ’13 zoomed through the water, winning the 1650-yard freestyle 10 seconds ahead of the rest.
“Joan had an amazing last split,” Forrester said. “She stood up and basically touched out Colgate on the final stretch.”
The weekend’s meets have launched a strong beginning of the 2011–’12 season for the men and women’s teams, who are entering their second year with swim coaches Tim Wise and Cristina Teuscher and diving coach Chris Bergere. Swimmer Mike Dominski ’13 said the new coaches, along with a new freshman class, have positioned the team well for the first conference meet against Columbia on Nov. 12.
“The team is so much more focused and driven by the sport,” he said. “The freshmen really impressed everyone, putting in some good times. This was a good race for Columbia in two weeks.”
The Bulldogs will go neck-and-neck with SCSU in Kiphuth Exhibition Pool on Friday at 3:00 p.m.
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