Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Solo Performances Fuel Georgetown

The men’s and women’s swim teams finished seventh at the 2002 Patriot Invite, held from Friday through Sunday in Fairfax, Va. Four Hoya swimming records were broken at Jim McKay Natatorium over the course of the meet and 15 swimmers qualified for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships.

“The Big East is a tougher meet to qualify for, so we’ve been gearing up as a team for the ECAC,” stated Head Coach Bethany Bower. “I would even expect a few more swimmers to go – our goal is to get 50 percent of both teams to qualify.”

Sophomore Michelle Herd’s times in the 100yd and 200yd backstroke allowed her to qualify for the Big East Championships for the second consecutive season. On Saturday, Herd turned in a time of 59.39 seconds in the 100yd backstroke, good enough for a sixth place finish. Sunday, she finished 11th in the 200yd backstroke in 2:09.75, though the top three finishers in the event each broke the previous meet record.

Several other women had stellar showings, including junior diver Juliana Bonilla. Bonilla broke the school record for three-meter diving, giving her the top Georgetown scores in all four diving events. She has also qualified for the ECAC Championships for both the one- and three-meter board events.

Freshman Katie Amaro continued to shine, breaking records in the 200yd and 500yd freestyle with times of 1:56.78 and 5:08.20, respectively.

“[Katie is] tough, she leads and she’s not afraid. It just goes to show that hard work does pay off . she’s helped jump-start the rest of the team,” Bower said.

Amaro was also a member of the sixth-place 200 freestyle relay team that qualified for the ECAC, joined by seniors Liz D’Auria, Francesca DiSilvio and Erin Lenahan. She also swam a leg of the 11th-place 400 medley relay with Herd, sophomore Annie oore and freshman Corinne Rhodes. Her 100yd split in the relay, as well as her individual times in the 200yd freestyle and 500yd freestyle qualified her for the ECAC meet.

Moore also qualified for ECACs in the 500yd freestyle (in which she placed 12th), the 1650yd freestyle and the 400 individual medley, in which she finished 18th.

Junior Colleen Newman also qualified for the ECAC in the 1650yd. freestyle.

For the men, ten swimmers garnered an invitation to the ECAC Championships, led by senior captain Bryan Evangelista’s qualifying times in five events. Evangelista – who is nearly recovered from a broken hand – will swim the 50yd, 100yd and 200yd freestyle events, in addition to the 100yd and 200yd butterfly. At the Patriot Invite, he finished seventh in the 100yd fly and fell outside the top eight by less than 0.2 seconds in the 100yd freestyle. A member of several relay teams, he garnered eighth place in the 200yd free relay with sophomore Michael Bayer and juniors Ted Lin and Shodai Enters. Evangalista was joined by Bayer, Enters and fellow senior co-captain Jim McLaughlin on the eighth place 400yd free relay squad.

“When the seniors swim well, the rest of the team follows through,” Bower said, emphasizing the importance of their leadership and their good times.

Bayer, Enters and McLaughlin have also qualified for the ECAC Championships in three individual events apiece. They will be joined by freshman John Hayden, who has qualified in four events – the 200yd, 500yd and 1650yd freestyle, as well as the 200yd butterfly. Also qualifying for the ECAC were junior Edmund Caulfield, sophomores Steve Ferguson, Brendan Griffin and Kevin Walsh and freshman Kevin Rieffel.

With Thanksgiving Break around the corner, both teams will have a bit of time off in their seasons before resuming on Dec. 7 against Howard and St. Francis (N.Y.). In the meantime, they will continue to train because there is “a lot left to our season” according to Bower. After tapering for the Patriot Invite and putting up some impressive times, the Hoyas must beware caution against becoming discouraged with slightly slower times in the future. “We’ve got to keep moving forward,” she added.

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