The Big Green men’s swimming and diving team broke a total of six records and placed first in nine events during this weekend’s Dartmouth Invitational at the Upper Valley Aquatic Center. Placing second overall in the meet, the men’s team scored 1,140 points to Boston College’s 1,272 points.
Meanwhile, the women’s team took first place overall with 1,141 points, breaking four records over the weekend.
“We wanted to win all the overall invitational and the associated dual meets,” head coach Jim Wilson said.
On the first day of competition, the Big Green started hot — sharing five first place finishes between the men and women. Both the men and women placed first in the 500-yard freestyle event with Molly Brickman ’19 finishing at 5:00.27 and Bruno Korbar ’18 at 4:33.90. Next, Melanya Zaraska ’19 received first place in the women’s 200-yard IM at 2:08.11, while Kendese Nangle ’16 broke her own meet record set three years ago in the women’s 50-yard freestyle (23.87) with a first place finish (23.83).
“This meet gave us all an opportunity to see where we were at at this point in the season,” Tony Shen ’18 said. “We also swam in remembrance of the passing of our friend Tate. We all wore caps with his name on them.”
At the end of the first night, the men’s 400-yard medley relay A team won the event (3:25.71). Comprised of James Verhagen ’16, David Harmon ’17, Misha Tovmashenko ’18 and Delaney Hall ’19, the foursome pushed the men’s team into first place.
“I thought it was excellent to see people have so much energy,” women’s team captain Charlotte Kamai ’16 said. “This was also the last meet of the season for some of the swimmers.”
At the start of the second day, Logan Briggs ’16 swam away with first in the 400-yard IM (4:03.67) beating Boston College’s Taylor Cortens by more than four seconds. Led in the early stages of the meet by Verhagen, who broke pool and meet records in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke, and Tovmashenko, who broke pool and meet records in the men’s 200-yard freestyle, the team looked to keep its lead.
However, even after the first place finishes contributed by Harmon, Tovmashenko, Verhagen and Briggs, the men’s team was playing catch up to BC through the second session of the meet. The Big Green’s men’s team had 720.5 points to BC’s men’s 752.5.
The women’s team was determined to win as well.
“Last year, the [women’s] team lost to the Northeastern [University] [women] by just one point,” Megan Crook ’19 said. “We knew we needed to place first and third in the last relay event to get our revenge.”
First, second and third place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle were all captured by Dartmouth swimmers AnnClaire MacArt ’18 (1:52.37), Brickman (1:52.76) and Olivia Samson ’16 (1:53.34).
“Winning the relays was a great way to end the meet,” Kamai, who also won the women’s 100-yard freestyle in pool and meet record-setting fashion (51.17), said.
The women’s team made revenge seem easy. The 400-yard freestyle relay A team of Nangle, Crook, Samson and Kamai finished first (3:31.37). The B team, comprised of MacArt, Amy Sun ’17, Amber Zimmerman ’19 and Zaraska stole second (3:34.08) ahead of all other A teams. Wrapping up the meet, the Dartmouth men’s 400-yard freestyle relay team made up of Tovmashenko, Korbar, Jack Long ’17 and Brandon Boval ’18 touched in first place breaking the meet record at 3:06.12, more than a second ahead of the old record set in 2012.
“I’m really proud of our team,” Kamai said. “We performed and celebrated the seniors afterwards recognizing our four years on the team. Afterwards, all the 17s also did combined speeches about Tate at the memorial. I’m really proud to be a part of this team and excited for the rest of the season.”
At the Karl Michael Pool for the third session, Brett Gillis ’16 placed first on the 1-meter diving board (303.45) and 3-meter (334.10). AJ Krok ’19 also finished fourth in both the 1-meter (254.25) and 3-meter (254.25).The women’s diving was lead by Allison Green ’19 who finished fifth on the 1-meter (241.85) and eighth on the 3-meter (196.80).
“It definitely meant something to me since it was my last home meet as a senior,” Gillis said. “It was my last good opportunity to use our own boards.”
The swim and dive teams next take to the pool at the University of Connecticut on Jan. 30.