In the midst of some of their most vigorous training of the year, the men’s and women’s swimming teams took some time off.
But instead of relaxing, the swimmers competed against — and dominated — the University of Maine.
Nearly doubling the Black Bears’ score, the men won 181-99, while the women were also victorious with a 181.5-110.5 outcome. Divers Melanie Loftus ’05 and Bates Gregory ’03 both broke the school record on the 3-meter springboard.
Cumulatively, the Bulldogs won 28 of the 32 events in which they competed, despite being fatigued from their weekend training.
“Maine is always a pretty interesting meet for us because it’s right in the middle of our Thanksgiving training, which is intense,” women’s team captain Emily Fain ’02 said.
For the men’s team, the medley relay team of Alex Nash ’04, Rob Schotter ’05, Jack Cooney ’04, and Jimmy Veazey ’04 took first place in the 200-yard event with a time of 1:37.88. Later in the meet, Nash took the 100-yard backstroke in 52.52, and Veazey swam the 200-yard butterfly in 1:55.73, winning first place in that event. In the 100-yard butterfly, Cooney recorded a time of 51.54, more than two seconds faster than the second place time.
Joe Mack ’05 won two events, taking both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events with times of 1:01.53 and 2:13.98, respectively.
“We had practice both before and after the meet, so we swam pretty well considering how much we’ve been training,” said Ned Stainthorpe ’05, who took first place in the 200-yard backstroke.
Captain Pat Dennis ’02 blew the competition out of the water in the 400-yard individual medley. His time of 4:09.63 was six seconds faster than the nearest finisher.
On the women’s side, the team of Erin Vanderberg ’05, Amber Schmidt ’05, Becca Knicely ’05, and Kristin Ophaug ’05 won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:50.71. Schmidt also came in first in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:09.38.
Fain won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.64, while Amy Hancock ’04 took the 200-yard event with a time of 1:58.62.
“We didn’t all swim our best events, so it’s hard to judge how we did,” Fain said.
The 200-yard butterfly was won handily by Danielle Baron ’03, who finished in 2:12.33, and Susan Cooke ’03 was the first-place finisher in the 400-yard individual medley, clocking 4:28.81.
The Elis dominated the diving competitions as well. Loftus now holds the Yale record on the 3-meter springboard with a total of 319.05 points.
“We had a really good meet, and everyone dove their best all season,” Gregory said. “It looks like we’re going to have a really good year.”
The men’s diving team, like the women’s, swept their events, with all Eli competitors finishing above the Maine divers. Josh Gallant ’04 took first place in both the 1- and 3-meter springboard divisions.
The men’s and women’s diving teams will compete against other Ivy League opponents this weekend in the Princeton Diving Invitational.
“We should do well, and it’s a good preview for the season,” Gregory said.
Meanwhile, the swimmers leave Wednesday to compete in a three-day invitational at the University of Virginia against such strong opposition as UVA, Texas A&M, and West Virginia.
“This is a kind of dress rehearsal for our conference meet at the end of the year,” Fain said, noting that the format of the two meets are identical. “We want to see what we can do in that kind of situation where we have to get up and swim twice a day.”