Nick Brown | Phoenix Staff

Lance Liu emerges from the water in the 200-yard individual medley at the senior meet against Gettysburg this past Saturday. Liu took fifth with a time of 2:07.89.

BY MARCUS MELLO

In print | Published February 4, 2010

Ware Pool was packed on Saturday as the Garnet men’s and women’s swimming teams won a total of 11 out of 22 events against the Gettysburg Bullets. While the men beat the Bullets 117-88, the women lost by only 17 points in a 111-94 score to a strong Gettysburg team that is undefeated in the Centennial Conference. The Garnet men are now 4-3 on the season (3-1 in the Centennial Conference) and the women are 4-4, dropping to 2-3 in the Centennial Conference.

The Senior Meet — which was publicized on Facebook and through flyers around campus — attracted a high attendance from fans and parents. “We had a lot of parents, which was cool,” All-American Senior Captain Anne Miller ’10 said. “There were a lot of Swat students, which was exciting because sports usually aren’t very well attended at Swarthmore. It just makes it that much more fun and motivating to compete.”

The meet was the last time that seniors Miller, Casey Osborn and Claire Sheldon for the women and Michael Ahn, Daniel Friel, Kyle Skolfield and Reid Wilkening for the men will swim in Ware Pool. “The meet was bittersweet being a senior,” Miller said. “It is strange to think that I’ve gone through four years of swimming at Swarthmore.

Tim Brevart ’12 said in an email, “The senior meet is always a big deal because it’s pretty much the culmination of our graduating class’s career as swimmers. The team is really close so we definitely wanted to send them off on a high note by winning and keeping morale high the whole time.”
Coming off an intense training session in Puerto Rico, both teams swam “exceptionally,” commented head coach Susan Davis, who is in her 36th year as the women’s head coach and her 27th year as the men’s head coach. With Centennial Conference Championships approaching in less than three weeks, both teams have been practicing harder. “This is the time when we do the most work,” she said.

Brevart echoed this statement. “The next three weeks will be crucial in putting the finishing touches on a season’s worth of training, so I think everyone will improve a good deal in the short weeks ahead.”

According to Miller, this hard work showed. “This is probably the best performance I’ve seen the women’s team put up this season,” Miller said. “The results of the meet show how much we’ve come along since the beginning of the season.” The standout herself garnered the team 27 points by taking first place in all three of her freestyle races (1000 yards, 500 yards and 200 yards). Miller swam her fastest races of the season in each event and a career-best in the 200 free.

The women started off the meet strong by winning the 400-yard medley relay. The first team of Melinda Neal ’11, Rosalie Lawrence ’12, Osborn and Chelsea Brett ’11 touched the wall in 4:17.98. The third team of Michelle Call ’13, Stephanie Su ’11, Hannah Gotwals ’13 and Emily MacDuffie ’13 finished with a time of 4:22.41. After four Garnet women races, Lawrence, Su and Osborn placed second, third, and fourth in the 200-yard IM with times of 2:22.14, 2:22.57, and 2.23.52 respectively. Following the individual medley race, Osborn again placed — this time second — between Gotwals in first place and Naomi Glassman ’12 in third in the 200-yard butterfly. For the women, the final race — the 400-yard freestyle relay — was the deciding one, but the women came up short by over six seconds. “I didn’t swim the relay, but I was jumping up and down yelling and screaming,” Miller said. “Both teams had a strong desire to win, but we can’t win every meet.”

For the men’s team, the first-years pulled through with solid performances. Tyler Hanson and Joshua Satre went one-two in the first individual race, the 1000-yard freestyle, with times of 10:09.24 for Hanson and 10:23.84 for Satre. Brevart commented that this race left the biggest impression on him. “Normally such a long race gives fans a nice opportunity to take a bathroom break, but I was on my feet during all 40 laps.”

The distance freestylers again placed in the 500-yard freestyle with Hanson in first (4:56.40), Satre in fourth (5:03.66), and first-year Jacob Benveniste in between in third place (4:59.15). In the 200-yard free, Daniel Duncan ’13 (1:48.12) and Benveniste (1:50.45) finished in first and third place. Duncan earned another nine points for the Garnet men with a first place finish in the 200-yard fly. Hanson, Charles Hepper ’13 and Satre touched the wall for second, third, and fifth place finishes in the same race.

Another vital event for the Garnet was the 200-yard breaststroke in which Sterling Satterfield ’11 (the current Swarthmore record holder) continued his dominance in the race. Satterfield also took third place in the 200-yard individual medley behind Hepper, who placed second.

Captain Santiago Lombo ’11 swam well for the Garnet, delivering two second-place finishes in the 50-yard free and 400-yard freestyle relay (in a team of Tim Brevart ’12, Michael Ahn ’10, and Neil Palmer ’12), and fourth in the 200-yard backstroke. Brevart earned nine points for the Garnet by winning the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.61. Captain Daniel Friel ’10 also contributed to the Garnet victory with a fourth place finish in the 50-yard free and a fifth place finish in the 100-yard free on his Senior Day in Ware.

“Both teams were up for the meet,” Davis said. “Gettysburg doesn’t like to lose to us,” Davis said. “Most everyone swam season or lifetime bests. I thought they swam very well.”

Although Gettysburg is not Swat’s biggest rival in the pool, Miller said, “Gettysburg meets have been getting more rivalry-esque in the last few years.”

Regarding the Conference Championships, which are scheduled for February 19-21 at Franklin & Marshall, Coach Davis said that it is difficult to predict where the teams will place at this point.
Looking into the future, Davis believes that the teams will be affected by the loss of the seniors. “We have some outstanding swimmers in the senior class.”

Miller, one of those swimmers, said, “The underclassmen are wonderful and in great hands next year.”

The Garnet swimmers will travel to Dickinson this Saturday, Feb. 6, where swimming will start at 1 p.m.

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