In a close battle, men’s swimming and diving edged out the Georgetown Hoyas 120.5-118.5, while the women’s team fell 83-159.
The dual meet for both men’s and women’s swimming and diving was held Jan. 15 in the Reeves Aquatic Center and was the annual Bender Splashdown. The meet also was the final curtain call at AU for the seven graduating seniors.
“We are coming off 10 days of real good training and we wanted to see the seniors perform today,” said Head Coach Mark Davin.
The meet got underway in the afternoon when the two schools’ diving teams met in Reeves. Freshman Brian McCalister produced the best results for the men, finishing first in the one-meter diving and second in the three-meter diving. For the women, it was Kelsey Monarch’s performance that led the Eagles, finishing third and fourth in the same events.
After completing the diving portion of the meet, the Eagles celebrated their seven seniors. After a brief ceremony, the teams were ready to go and lined up on the sides of the pool for the first race.
Both teams started off with the 200-yard medley relay. The Georgetown team took the women’s race, while American took the men’s race. Senior Matthew Pelletier led the men’s team to a strong start.
“Today felt great,” Pelletier said. “I felt the medley relay set the tone for the meet for us.”
After the relay, the endurance swimmers were up for the 1,000-meter freestyle race. Georgetown shined in this event, taking first in both the men’s and women’s events.
The AU men got back on top of the podium when Sean McNamara won the 200-yard freestyle. Alexandra Wessel took second for the women after being just barely beaten out by the Georgetown swimmer.
Next up were the sprinters of the swimming world in the 50-meter freestyle where AU swept both first places. Dory Isaacs won the women’s race followed closely by teammate Leah Breen, who beat out the Georgetown swimmer by a hundredth of a second. Pelletier continued his strong performance by winning the men’s event.
Even on senior day it may have been the freshman from Australia who had the strongest performance. Ming Ong dominated the 400-yard individual medley, finishing several lengths in front of the next swimmer. Ong also won the 200-yard breaststroke by a significant margin.
The meet concluded in impressive fashion, as the AU women won the final and most competitive race of the day in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The men also had a close final race, leading for the first half, but they were overtaken by Georgetown in the final leg.
For the meet, the women finished with four first places, while the men ended up with seven first places. Of all AU swimmers, it was the senior captain Pelletier who either helped or individually earned three of them.
After two more meets, the team will make the short trip to Annapolis, Md., for the Patriot League Championship.
“We have improved a lot from last year, and we have the potential to make the big leap into the top three of the league,” Davin said.
Following the league championship, the Eagles may have the opportunity to cheer at least one, if not more, swimmers at the NCAA Championships in March.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
