The Dartmouth swim team took on Columbia and UMass this weekend. Both the men and the women lost to Columbia. Against UMass, the women were defeated, losing 171-129. The men rallied to win 155.5-144.5.
"After doing so well at Columbia, it was tough to not walk away with a win," Matt Brennan '98 said. "But, we sucked it up and pulled out a solid performance today. In-season bests became almost common-place. At a point in the season when we should be completely torn down, we turned in some incredible performances in the pool and on the diving board."
Andrea Hill '97 led the women against Columbia, with two dominating victories. Hill led the Big Green to a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.81, followed up by a 2:21.88 victory in the 200 breaststroke. Christina Dam '00 turned in a victory in the 100 backstroke, in a time of 1:01.51 while Wendy Simon '98 won the 100 butterfly in 1:00.95.
On the diving board, Courtney DuBois '99 won the one-meter board with 251.25 points. On the three-meter, DuBois won with 261.15 points. In the end, the Lions defeated the Big Green 165-135.
On the men's side, Michael Hooper '99 and Toby Hays '99 turned in double-win performances. Hooper took the 1650 freestyle in 16:36.92 and won the 500 yard freestyle in 4:48.67.
Against the University of Massachusetts, both Hill and DuBois repeated their double-victory performances from the previous day. Catherine Sterling '98 also set a new pool record in the 200 butterfly, winning in 2:08.18. In the end, the Minutewomen triumphed 171-129. With the two losses this weekend, the women's record drops to 4-4.
On the men's side, the meet opened poorly. Outnumbered, 27 to 17, it looked as if the team would again be defeated by UMass' superior depth. UMass destroyed the Big Green in the 200 yard medley relay, leaving Dartmouth trailing 15-2 after the first event.
However, the men's team quickly rallied as Hooper came from behind to win the 1000 yard freestyle in 9:50.50. Doug Doucet '98 turned in another come-from-behind win in the 200 yard freestyle, cutting the UMass lead to 11. Jon Kenyon '97 took the 100 backstroke in 53.65 to extend the win streak to three events. After Dan Concannon '00 won the 100 breaststroke, the Big Green's victory in the 200-yard butterfly put the team up 58.5-53.5.
Still, the Minutemen came back behind superior depth, dominating the 100 freestyle. Concannon's dominating victory in the 200 breaststroke was offset by UMass' victory in the 500-yard freestyle. The Big Green still trailed by three points going into the diving competition. Behind sophomore Mark Devlin's lifetime best performance on the three-meter board, the Big Green took a 125.5-119.5 lead.
However, it was mild-mannered Geoff Walford '99 who broke the meet open with a lifetime best 52.89 in the 100-yard butterfly, extending the Big Green's lead to 13 points. With the meet on the line, Hooper and Brennan buried the Minutemen, finishing 1-2 in the 400 individual medley. Like the day before, superior depth overwhelmed the Big Green in the final relay, but this time it wasn't enough. The victory raised the men's team record to 2-4.
"We're building a solid team." Brennan said. "We have a strong core. I'm psyched for the rest of this season. Easterns should be fun -- so should claiming revenge on Columbia."
Both the men and the women will be returning to Hanover for next weekend's meet against the Princeton Tigers this Sunday starting at noon in the Karl B. Michael pool.
