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

Swimming & Diving | Hoyas Aim to Rebound From Back-to-Back Losses

FILE PHOTO: CAROLINE KENNEALLY/THE HOYA Junior diver Jared Cooper-Vespa won the men’s three-meter diving competition at Georgetown’s meet against William & Mary.
FILE PHOTO: CAROLINE KENNEALLY/THE HOYA
Junior diver Jared Cooper-Vespa won the men’s three-meter diving competition at Georgetown’s meet against William & Mary.

The Georgetown swimming and diving team will travel to New Brunswick, N.J., to participate in a quad meet at Rutgers University on Friday. The team will race against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and fellow Big East competitors Villanova Wildcats and Seton Hall Pirates. This meet will be the first since Georgetown lost back-to-back meets to William and Mary and Davidson.

“It was a tough weekend for the team. It was back-to-back meets, but designed that way because we are going to have to do that at the end of the year. The same thing goes for this weekend, although we don’t have to travel as much,” Head Coach Jamie Holder said.

William and Mary outperformed the women’s team 152-53 and the men’s team 170-35. Despite the loss, there were some strong performances. The women’s 400-yard medley relay team of junior Katie Duncalf, sophomore Haley Owens, freshman Laine Morgan and sophomore Bailey Page, with a time of 3:55.53, won the first event of the meet. Morgan also placed first in the women’s 200 individual medley with a time of 2:07.14.

On the men’s team, freshman Jacob Kohlhoff finished third in the men’s 100 freestyle with a time of 48.48, with junior Martin Vanin following in fourth place with a time of 48.71. Junior Evan Grey, with a time of 4:51.75, and senior Austin Evenson, with a time of 4:51.92, took third and fourth place, respectively, in the 500 freestyle.

The following day, the Hoyas travelled to North Carolina to compete against Davidson. The women fell to the Wildcats 166-132, while the men were defeated 171-127.

Duncalf delivered another impressive performance, finishing first in both the women’s 100 backstroke with a time of 58.84 and the women’s 200 backstroke with a time of 2:06.63. Senior Erica Fabbri and sophomore Bailey Paige finished in first and second place, respectively, in the women’s 50 freestyle.

Kohlhoff was one of the strongest swimmers on the men’s side, finishing first in the men’s 200 freestyle with a time of 1:43.88 and finishing second place in the men’s 500 freestyle with a time of 4:49.55. Vanin won the men’s 100 butterfly with a time of 51.71.

Meanwhile, Georgetown also performed well in the diving events. Junior Sarah Jaklitsch won both the 1-meter and 3m diving competitions. Freshman Ryan Blom won the men’s 1m diving competition and junior Jared Cooper-Vespa won the 3m diving competition.

Though the Hoyas did not come out on top during this busy weekend of back-to-back meets, they did have a chance to swim against higher-caliber teams.

“William and Mary and Davidson are really tough teams,” senior captain Erica Fabbri said. “We learned how we can race against tough competition, which I think makes us even more excited for us to swim against teams in the Big East this weekend.”

This weekend presents the Hoyas with the opportunity to gauge the conference competition. The quad meet at Rutgers is split into two days. The spread of events will give the team extra time to rest, which may result in faster times. It will also be good preparation for the looming Bucknell Invitational Nov. 20-22, which is one of the most important meets of this season.

Holder hopes the team will be competitive and gain experience against higher-caliber teams this weekend.

“I’d like to try to be a little more competitive with some of these teams,” Holder said. “I mean, I don’t know that we have the ability on the women’s side to beat Rutgers or Villanova, but I’d like to try to get a little closer than we were last year and maybe win a few of the tighter races. I think the men have a challenge with both Villanova and Seton Hall. We are just trying to improve on things that we have been working on.”

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