Helen Lucas
Staff Writer
The men and women’s swimming and diving team competed in their longest meet so far this season at Ithaca College. For the freshman swimmers, this was their first big collegiate meet. Danielle Hoffner said, “Competing in Ithaca was an amazing experience. I got to meet and race so many talented people from all over.”
Over the three day meet, the men finished eighth on Friday and Sunday and were able to pull off a seventh place finish on Saturday. The women registered a seventh place finish on Friday followed by two fourth place finishes on Saturday and Sunday.
On Friday, Olivia Paione led the women’s s side with a time of 2:11.64 in the 200 IM earning her seventh. Christine Shea and Mackenzie Coleman also had strong finishes in the 200 IM placing 12th and 14th respectively. For the men, freshman diver Valmore Stewart placed fifth in the 1 meter dive.
On Saturday, the Pride’s most successful day, Kent Parsons finished eighth in the 100 fly which he followed up with the men’s best finish of the day, a third place finish in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.25. Parsons came back later along with Austin Von Heeringen, Erik McKenna and Sean Harnish to earn sixth place in the 400 freestyle relay and fifth place in the 800 free relay.
On the women’s side, Emily Medeiros placed first finish in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.7. Medeiros was also able to capture fifth in the 200 free relay with teammates Haley Cordery, Monique Forte and Haley Nolan with a time of 1:43.09. Lauren Longley and Hoffner were able to get a sixth and seventh place finishes in the 200 fly respectively. The 800 free relay team of Paione, Nolan, Cordery and Kate O’Connor added to the Pride’s success on Saturday with a third place finish.
On the final day of competition Von Heeringen was able to earn second in the 200 back with a time of 1:54.09. Von Heeringen along with McKenna, Parsons and Harnish finished with a time of 3:14.06 which was good for an eighth-place finish in the 400 free relay.
Medeiros was able to earn her second victory of the weekend in the 200 breaststroke (2:20.72), where she finished 5.1 seconds over the runner up. In the same event Shea and Amelia McKenzie were able to place fourth and 14th respectively. The 400 free relay team of Cordery, Nolan, Medeiros and Paione was able to end the meet a fourth place finish.
The swimmers will be back in the pool on Saturday when they take on Middlebury College at home at 1 p.m.