The spirits of the Dartmouth men's and women's swimming and diving teams remain high despite a relative collapse this weekend at a double dual meet held at Simmons College. The Dartmouth men's swimming and diving team fell to both Harvard and Cornell. The Crimson defeated the Big Green 239-61 and the Big Red downed Dartmouth 238-61.
Although it is sometimes difficult to find positive marks in the wake of defeat, one was the first-rate routine of diver Andrew Berry '08, who won the one-meter event with 283.95 points and finished fourth in three-meter diving with 250.25 points.
Also performing well for the Big Green was Kevin Ellis '09, who was fifth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:45.09 and fifth in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing at 4:47.13. Joe Braunreuther '08 finished fifth in the 1000 yard free in 10:06.66 and Justin Slick '09 ended the event with an eighth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke, with a time of 1:03.46. Captain Kemper Diehl '06 was seventh in the 50-yard free when the day was done with a clock measurement of 22.18 and eighth in the 100-yard free with a count of 48.72.
Still, men's head coach A. James Wilson was able to keep a positive outlook for the rest of the season, saying, "We're swimming Navy and Brown this weekend. Last year our meet with Brown came down to the last relay. We're hoping we can get to that point again this year. We're looking forward to our winter trip to California and Nevada in December. Our EISL Championships are in early March." If the team can continue to build off the positive aspects of this weekend's meet, then a strong showing at the championships will be just a few strokes away for the Big Green.
The Dartmouth women's swimming and diving team, on the other hand, had mixed success, defeating Cornell 176-122 but falling to Harvard 181-119. Kate Brodie '06, Melissa Kern '07, and Dana Charles '06, all attained a victory in multiple events, and the team set two pool records.
Brodie won both the one and three-meter diving events. She amassed 240.75 points to prevail in the one-meter event and 256.80 points to triumph in the three-meter affair.
Kern was able to snare the 500 free with a time 5:06.56 and the 1000-meter freestyle clocking in at 10:21.31. Charles captured the 100 breast in 1:08.27 and the 200 breast with a period of 2:29.08.
Pool records were set by Lauren Betzing '07 in the 200-meter butterfly, finishing with the impressive time of 2:07.74 and the Big Green's 400-meter freestyle relay team, which completed its race in 3:36.69. The relay assemblage was comprised of Laura Hester '09, Liz Mancuso '08, Lizzie Rippe '07 and Kristin Simunovich '06. The Big Green have reason to believe that this quartet will set even greater bars for others to surpass in the near future.
The Big Green women will swim against Brown on Sunday, Nov. 13, in Providence, R.I.
