The University of Connecticut defeated the Big Green men and women’s swimming and diving team this weekend at Wolff-Zackin Natatorium. This dual meet marked senior day for UConn swimmers and was the final non-conference dual meet of the season for the Big Green. Although many Dartmouth swimmers won individual events, the women’s team lost by a score of 160-121 and men’s team lost by a score of 174-126.
The Big Green had a rough start to the day. UConn won both the men’s and women’s 200-yard medley relay races. The women’s relay touched less than two-tenths of a second behind while the men touched five-tenths of a second behind the Huskies’ first place finish. It was not until the third event that AnnClaire MacArt ’18 provided the team with their first first place finish of the day in the women’s 1000-yard freestyle (10:27.36). Not only did MacArt swim her best time of the season, she followed it up with victories in the women’s 200-yard freestyle (1:52.75) and 500-yard freestyle (5:00.64). Building momentum for her team, MacArt’s string of individual performances contributed 27 points to the total.
Women’s co-captain Olivia Samson ’16, who swam her own season best in the women’s 1000-yard freestyle (10:44.74), said that though MacArt had a “tough schedule” swimming the 1000, 500 and 200-yard freestyle eventss, the sophomore still won all of her events which energized the team.
“There were a lot of close races today,” Samson said.
Meanwhile, in the women’s 50-yard freestyle, Dartmouth swimmers Kendese Nangle ’16 and co-captain Charlotte Kamai ’16 placed first (24.71) and second (24.78), respectively. Megan Crook ’19 also had a strong showing by winning two events — the women’s 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.09) and 100-yard freestyle (52.72). Crook contributed to the team in a big way this meet with 18 individual points. Amber Zimmerman ’19, Samson, MacArt and Kamai capped off the meet by winning the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay (3:35.23). This marked the fourth race that MacArt had swam in, and her fourth win.
“For this meet we were missing a lot of the swimmers,” Tony Shen ’18 said. “Those who aren’t going to the [Ivy League Championship] are already done for the season and we were just tired after a tough week of training.”
For the men’s team, Misha Tovmashenko ’18 brought first place to the men’s team in the 200-yard freestyle (1:40.81) for the second week in a row. In the next men’s event, James Verhagen ’16 won his race in the 100-yard backstroke (50.15) as well as the 200-yard backstroke event (1:51.80). David Harmon ’17 and Henry Senkfor ’18 also had notable swims, securing first place finishes in the men’s 100-yard butterfly (50.22) and the men’s 200-yard IM (1:54.54) respectively.
The team’s efforts were too little too late, however, as the men’s team had fallen into too much of a deficit to win the meet after securing just three victories within the first eleven events. Ending the meet on a high note, Tovmashenko, Shen, Aaron Athanas ’16 and Henry Patrick ’19 took first in the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay. The men’s team won its final three events, including the 400-yard relay.
“We had some good and some bad,” head coach Jim Wilson said. “We’re in a weird mode in between staying well rested and ready to race due and training hard due to the upcoming Ivy League Championship.”
Less than a month from the Ivy League championship, the Big Green swimmers and divers are starting to focus on the three-day long meet. As tapering begins, they are looking to swim their best times during the competition. The Dartmouth team’s last dual meet will be next week when they race rival Columbia University in New York City on Feb. 7.
