Courtesy of Yale Athletics

The Yale swimming and diving team dove headfirst into their season at their Oct. 26 meet at the University of Delaware, winning dozens of events across various distances and strokes. Even though it’s only the team’s second meet of the season, they have been hard at work for almost two months now, with morning and afternoon practices six days a week. 

“We’re putting in lots of work, seldom resting prior to this meet,” distance swimmer Konstantinos Zachariadis ’27 told the News. “Even on the last day before the meet, on Friday, we still had an intense practice.” 

This year, the meet was held at Delaware, which meant the Bulldogs had to wake up early and commute to the event site. However, even after a five-hour journey, the Bulldogs still rose to the occasion. 

Alex Massey ’25 delivered an outstanding performance for the women’s swim team, being part of both the winning 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays. She also clinched first in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly events with times of 56.72 and 2:03.07, respectively.  

On the men’s swim side, it was the first year from London, Nicholas Finch ’28, who dominated the sprints, touching the wall first in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly events. 

Being a scrimmage, the meet was a non-team scored event, but nevertheless, with the same format as an official race, team members felt that the same spirited and enthusiastic atmosphere of a formal meet. 

“Everyone was really amped up to compete,” breaststroke and sprint freestyle swimmer Charlize Escasa ’27 told the News. “It was a combined meet, and we always love having the men’s team around; they bring this great aura of fierce competition and sportsmanship.”

Jake Wang ’28 touched the wall first in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2:02.83 mark. The Bulldogs racked up even more titles in the long-distance events. Yale swept the men’s 500-yard freestyle, with Arshak Hambardzumyan ’28, Charlie Egeland ’27 and Zachariadis finishing first, second and third, respectively. In the men’s 400-yard individual medley, the Elis were also dominant, with Elliot Lee ’28 and Jed Jones ’25 taking the top two spots. 

While the Bulldogs thrived in their specialized strokes, the meet was a great opportunity for athletes to try out new strokes and distances, as well. Zachariadis is primarily a long-distance freestyle swimmer, but he took home the first event win for the men’s team in the 200-yard butterfly event. 

The diving team displayed a dominating performance at the meet, winning three of the four events. On the women’s team, Lily Horenkamp ’26 prevailed in 3m diving and Hayden Henderson ’25 emerged victorious in the 1m. Men’s 3m diving was a sweep for Yale, with the Elis taking all of the top three spots. Jackson Lipscomb ’28, Brady Stanton ’28 and Ray Wipfli ’25 all put up scores of over 300 to finish in first, second and third place, respectively. 

In women’s swim, the Elis were superior in the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays, and several members of the winning relay quartets went on to prevail in their individual events. Jessey Li ’26, although primarily a breaststroke/IM swimmer, clinched two short-mid distance freestyle events for the Bulldogs, winning both the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle swims. 

Devyn Sargent ’28 was on both winning relay teams, and her individual time of 1:59.56 was enough for first place in the 200-yard backstroke. 

The long-distance swims also went well for the Elis, with Eunice Lee ’28 taking the 400-yard individual medley swim and Caroline Riggs ’27 prevailing in the 1000-yard freestyle. Lilly Derivaux, who was also a part of the 400-yard freestyle relay group, won the 500-yard freestyle. 

“I’m just excited to have fun and make the most of these last meets with my teammates/team as well as see how all our hard work pays off,” said Junseo Kim ’25, a mid-long distance swimmer who has been on the swim team for all four years at Yale.

The women’s swimming and diving team will have their next meet on Nov. 1 against the University of Miami, and the men’s swimming and diving team will have their next meet on Nov. 8 against Brown.