Sports
Both men’s and women’s swimming boast wins at Hamilton Invitational
By Yuezhi Xie ’20
December 8, 2016
Tags sports
The Hamilton swimming and diving team excelled at the two-day, three session Hamilton Invitational on Dec. 2 and 3, finishing in first place amongst both men and women. After falling in its first meet of the season to Trinity, the Continental men racked 1033 points, almost 300 more than second-place SUNY Cortland, to win the Invitational this past weekend. The Trinity also defeat the women to begin the season, but rallied on the second day of the Invitational to squeak out a half point victory over Cortland, which was the runner-up for the women as well.
The 2016-17 men’s swimming and diving team is led by captains Scott Becker ’17 and Ryan Cassidy ’17. At the 2016 NESCAC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, Cassidy finished 14th in the 1650 free and 15th in the 1,000 free. At the Hamilton Invitational, he took home first in the 500 free (4:52.82) and second in the 1,650 free (17:00.86).
Miller ’18, Ben Cooper ’18, Evan Tatro ’20 and Scott Becker ’17 won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:37.63 as well as the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:36.69. Miller was a key figure in leading the victory of the Invitational, winning three individual events and being victorious in four relays. The divers Cole Bodak ’17, Michael Burchesky ’17 and Julian Ziaggi ’17 all gave stunning performances in this meet, notably Ziaggi who claimed third in the 3-meter springboard diving event with 228.10 points and fourth from the 1-meter board with 235.60 points. Other swimmers who made key contributions for the men’s team are Trevor Pearson ’18, Jake Lowy ’19, Case Tatro ’18 and Luke Jeton ’17. Hamilton has great chemistry and tremendous individual talent; accordingly, the Continentals have high expectations for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs.
The 2016-17 women’s swimming and diving team is led by captains Elizabeth Barry ’17, Hannah Mooney ’17 and Rachel Williams ’17. The half-point victory was an excellent demonstration of Scott Becker’s ’17 assertion that “every single swim counts for the team.” Mooney posted an impressive performance over the weekend, winning the 200 free with a time of 1:59.99 and the 500 free with a time of 5:21.78; she also finished second in the 100 free with a time of 56.09 seconds. The quartet of Jessie Halladay ’18, Sadie Logan ’20, Hannah Mooney ’17 and Lauren Klei ’18 won both the 800 free relay with a time of 8:10.88 and the 400 free relay with a time of 3:42.80, which sealed the victory for the Continentals in dramatic fashion at the end of the Invitational. Other outstanding performances include Madeleine Lepesant’s ’19 first place finish in the 200 butterfly and third place finish in the 1,650 free and Renee Varga ’20s third place in the 200 back. In diving, Jackie Bussgang ’19 won seventh place in the 1-meter springboard with 191.25 points and sixth place in the 3-meter board with 185.30 points.
“I am so proud of the team for our first place finish at the invitational this weekend!” exclaimed women’s team captain Rachel Williams ’17 after the meet. Williams also noted, “Every single swimmer and diver has worked so hard in preparation for this meet, and it was awesome to see all the hard work pay off.” Williams sung the praise of interim head coach, Astrid Esconbar, claiming she “is doing a phenomenal job of pushing people to work hard and get excited about it at the same time.”
During winter break, the Continentals will head to Middletown, CT to face the Cardinals of Wesleyan College on Jan.2. The men’s team captain Scott Becker ’17 expects a hard fought and intense meet: “Wesleyan should be a close meet; last year our meet against Wesleyan came down to the last relay.” The Continentals are working hard to ensure that they come out on the winning side of this meet. Becker believes the team is preparing as best as it can, saying, “Practices have been tougher than ever this year, but even so, spirits are high. Our team is excited to work because we have our friends behind us and we know how good it feels to accomplish our goals in meets.” Hopefully, many of these goals will be achieved in the near future.