2014 has been a good year for Yale swimming. Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams added to their undefeated 2014 portion of the season with victories this past weekend, earning wins in New Jersey and New Hampshire, respectively.

The men defeated the Fordham Rams 205–93 and the Rider Broncs 209–90, while the women had a close victory over the University of New Hampshire Wildcats, winning 156.5–143.5.

“It felt great, especially since our team seems to be getting faster and faster towards the end of the season,” Nick Sehlinger ’17 said.

That speed certainly helped the men in their blowout victories. They had a winning streak to uphold as they headed into this meet, so they got things off to a quick start. The male divers racked up the points with victories from Tyler Pramer ’14 in the 1- and 3-meter dives. James McNelis ’16 also placed in both events, along with Anthony Mercadante ’17, who took third in the 3-meter dive.

The individual events started with Brian Hogan ’16 winning the 1000-yard freestyle, but the juniors were the ones to focus on during this meet. Andrew Heymann ’15 started things off with a win in the 200-yard freestyle. Mike Lazris ’15 won the 100-yard backstroke, while Rob Harder ’15 took first place in the 200-yard backstroke. Ronald Tsui ’15 pulled out two wins in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events, and Alwin Firmansyah ’15 won the 200-yard butterfly. Both the 200-yard medley relay team and the 400-yard freestyle relay team won their events.

The women’s team had a back-and-forth meet against the Wildcats, with the contest coming down to the last few points. The University of New Hampshire was undefeated going into the meet, adding pressure to the Bulldogs’ lineup.

“We were all super broken down and we faced this meet as a challenge to overcome and to make our team stronger,” Isla Hutchinson-Maddox ’17 said. “We know we have endurance and we can fight through any meet,” said Hutchinson-Maddox ’17.

New Hampshire won the first event, the 400-yard medley relay, while the Bulldogs came in second. Eva Fabian ’16 pulled out a victory in the 100-yard freestyle, and Kina Zhou ’17 won the 200-yard freestyle to start the individual events.

The Wildcats took the next two events, the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke, finishing just ahead of Yale swimmers Michelle Chintanaphol ’17 and Ali Stephens-Pickeral ’16, respectively. Hutchinson-Maddox took second in the 200-yard butterfly, while Fabian tied a Wildcat swimmer for third.  Zhou earned crucial victories in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events, while Chintanaphol won the 200-yard backstroke. Fabian and Hutchinson-Maddox took first and second in the 500-yard freestyle and Sydney Hirschi ’17 won the 100-yard butterfly.

The diving team showed its skills with first, second and third place finishes in the 1-meter dive by Lilybet MacRae ’17, Kelly Sherman ’16 and Christina Brasco ’14, respectively. MacRae and Sherman also took first and second in the 3-meter dive.

The meet came down to the wire as the final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay, began. The Elis finished in second and third, giving them the points to finish with a final score of 156.5, 13 points ahead of the Wildcats.

Both Bulldog teams will face off against rivals Harvard and Princeton this weekend for Yale’s last home meet of the season.

“We all really come together at competition, and having HYP at home will be an amazing atmosphere to start this period leading to the championship meet,” Hutchinson-Maddox said.

Men’s events start at 6:00 p.m. on Friday at the Robert J.H. Kiphuth Exhibition Pool, while the women begin on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 6:00 p.m.