Ten intensive training days over winter break in Puerto Rico paid dividends for the swimming and diving programs.
The Yale men’s (5-0) and women’s (4-1) teams returned to competition on Saturday; the women defeated Cornell 166.5-76.5, and the men won a dual meet with Cornell, 126-115, and the Naval Academy, 138-103.
The Bulldog women quickly asserted their superiority when Heidi Kraus ’03, Laura O’Brien ’04 and Danielle Page ’05 swept the top three places in the 1,000 freestyle, the meet’s first event. Kraus’s winning time was 10:20.48. She followed this performance by leading captain Catey Bradford ’03 and Rachel Shipp ’05 in another Yale sweep of the top three spots in the 500 freestyle, winning in 5:09.81.
Susan Cooke ’03 was the other double winner, placing first in both the 200 IM — breaking her own Cornell pool record with a time of 2:06.57 — and her specialty, the 200 breaststroke, in 2:21.76.
Daphna Shafir ’04 was the second Cornell pool record-setter, winning the 200 butterfly in 2:05.50; Greta Matzner Gore’s ’06 and Emily Drilling’s ’05 second and third places, respectively, completed the third Bulldog top-three sweep of the meet.
Yale’s diving trio of Emily Cardy ’05, Melanie Loftus ’05 and Kathleen McKeon ’04 had strong showings in both diving events. On the one-meter board, Cardy placed second, Loftus third and McKeon fifth; on the three-meter board, Loftus was first, McKeon second and Cardy fifth.
Like their female teammates, the Bulldog men also swept the top three spots in the 1,000 freestyle. John Atkinson ’05 led the way, winning in 9:43.09; Tim Carey ’03 and Matt Aldrich ’04 finished second and third, respectively. Atkinson was the sole double winner in the men’s meet, posting a time of 4:43.89 in the 500 freestyle, out-touching captain Greg Palumbo ’03.
The men’s team also showed tremendous depth throughout the meet. Jimmy Veazey ’04 won the 200 butterfly in 1:52.56; Jeff Kelsey ’05 and Hiro Ellis ’06 placed third and fourth, respectively.
Alex Nash ’04 won the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:51.96; Steve Edell ’03 and Hanan Levin ’04 placed third and fourth, respectively.
Colin O’Brady ’06 finished second in the 200 breaststroke, leading three Yalies in the top four. Tom Hardy ’06 and Joe Mack ’05 finished third and fourth, respectively.
Even with this success, the meet’s outcome was settled with the final event: the 400 freestyle relay. The Yale team of Veazey, Matt Bowman ’04, James Cocks ’03 and Jack Cooney ’04 won the event in 3:06.56.
“The men’s team had an exciting meet, and it came down to the last relay,” Cocks said. “Fortunately, we won both meets.”
The Bulldogs next compete on Friday, when both programs split to face Fairfield on the road and host Fordham. Fordham is Yale’s second to last home meet of the winter.