Big Green swimmers and divers returned Sunday night from a rough weekend of races on the road that resulted in losses to the University of Pennsylvania (232-68) and Yale (243-57) on Saturday followed up by Princeton (163-118) on Sunday.
"What the scores from this past weekend fail to show is that we held our own given the circumstances," said senior captain Lauren Gilhooly, "and performed better overall in these two back-to-back meets than we have in the past few years."
In Philadelphia, freshman distance sensation Melissa Kern posted her best time of the season for the 1000 freestyle and the third fastest in Dartmouth history with a 10:28.57. Later in the meet on the boards, junior Erin Bingham captured second place on the three-meter scoring 213.85.
The team lacked numbers this weekend as three swimmers were unable to attend the meet and one diver was on the bench due to an injury incurred at a meet the previous weekend.
Against the Tigers, the team set out ready to sprint in the shorter distance events. The Tigers were very competitive all around, so the team stayed focused. Brooke Wehrenberg '05 said, "It was a lesson in swimming your own race." Freestyler Gilhooly never looked back at the Tigers as she captured first for the Big Green and a season best time of 24.97. Lizzie Rippe '07 brought home first place in the 50 fly in 26.80.
Freshman Kate Van Brunt posted a personal best time back to back this weekend in the 100 back dropping three-tenths of a second in the event from Saturday's meet to finish with a 1:03.35 on Sunday.
Within the squad, Dartmouth fed into some inter-class rivalry in the 100 Free Relay event, a once a year opportunity at the Princeton meet. The playful rivalry between the '06s and '07s was miraculously upset by the '04s, with Gilhooly swimming twice, taking down all of the other classes.
"Yale, Penn and Princeton are three squads that are very strong in depth and talent," commented Gilhooly, "so to compete against all three of them in one weekend is always a challenge for our team."
Now 2-6 on the year, 1-5 in the Ivy League, the Big Green will leave behind the weekend and focus on the upcoming meet against Army on Saturday, Jan. 31. In the past few years the Big Green has been very competitive at the meet, and they look forward to breaking the losing streak.
