The Ithaca College men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both defeated Union College on Feb. 2. in Schenectady, New York. The women won 183-116 and the men won 198-99.
The women’s team finished out their final dual meet of the season by securing first place in 10 out of 16 events. The Bombers started out strong in the first event of the day, as they claimed first and third place in the 200-medley relay. The first-place team of junior Paige Landers, junior Ashley Warren, senior Jaclyn Pecze and senior Genny Tripler finished with a time of 1:54.66. Freshmen Maggie Flynn, Karolina Baranowski, Jesse Ford and Emilee Murray raced to a time of 1:59.90, which earned them third place.
Sophomore Morgan Hoffman-Smith notched the winning spot in the first individual event of the meet, racing the 1000-yard freestyle in 10:45.27. Hoffman-Smith was not the only Bomber who secured a top finish in the event, as junior Maura Beuttel took third with a time of 11:30.81. Sophomore Katie Conte finished in fourth place, and freshman Josie Michaels took fifth in the event.
Pecze and freshman Olivia Schlackman each brought home two individual wins. Pecze first claimed the top spot in the 50-yard freestyle, racing a time of 25.91. Sophomore Caroline Bissaillon followed closely behind, claiming second place. Pecze secured her second win in the 100-yard butterfly, after racing a time of 1:00.19. Junior Kaitlyn Scott finished in second place in this event and senior Casey Koenig rounded out the top five.
Schlackman claimed her two first-place finishes in the 200-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle. Schlackman raced a 2:17.69 in the 200-yard butterfly, and proceeded to grab first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:26.84.
Tripler, brought home a win in the 100-yard freestyle, racing to a time of 56.37. Bissaillon followed in second place with a time of 58.04. Landers and Murray took fourth and fifth place as well.
The Blue and Gold showed their strength in the breaststroke, finishing second through fifth in both the 100 and 200-yard events. In the 100-yard breaststroke, senior Hannah Parbst took second with a time of 1:13.63, sophomore Gabrielle Humphrey trailed closely behind placing third only 1.4 seconds later, Baranowski took fourth with a time of 1.15.96 and Koenig capped off top five in 1:16.89.
The Bombers continued these awards in the 200-yard breaststroke event with Warren in second place with a time of 2:36.93, Parbst third in 2:39.16 while Humphrey took fourth and Michaels finished fifth.
The South Hill squad capped off the day with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Ford, Murray, Bissaillon and Tripler held the top spot, racing to a time of 1:43.80. Bombers Beuttel, Smertz, Pecze and Hoffman-Smith followed with a second-place finish in 1:45.29.
Graduate student diver Anna Belson won both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards for the Blue and Gold. On 1-meter, Belson claimed victory by nearly 50 points, securing a score of 296.99. The Bombers claimed four out of five places in the event. Ava Lowell earned second with 247.57 points, while sophomore Jocelyn Pawcio came in fourth with a score of 231.15 and freshman Samantha Lanzafame rounded out the top five with 227.70 points.
Belson proceeded to earn her second win of the day on the 3-meter board, finishing with a score of 314.63. Pawcio and Lowell contributed to the Bombers’ sweep of the board as they took second and third, finishing with scores of 294.08 and 279.30 points respectively.
The men’s team comfortably pulled away from Union College early in the day, winning the first seven events, and racing to earn the top spot in 11 out of 16 events overall. The Bombers defeated the Dutchmen by 99 points.
The Bombers raced an impressive meet, showing off their depth in almost every event. The South Hill squad earned four out of the top five places in five events, and three out of the top five in seven events throughout the day.
The win closed out the Blue and Gold’s dual meets for this season, and the team was led by junior Andrew Mikhailichenko with three first-place finishes, and sophomore Stanley Zaneski, who picked up two individual wins.
Mikhailichenko brought home his first win in the 100-yard breaststroke, racing with a time of 1:00.12. Fellow teammates junior Augie Carlozzi and freshman Jack Gerken finished closely behind, as Carlozzi finished third place and Gerken took fourth. Mikhailichenko’s other first-place finish came in the 200-yard breaststoke, as he claimed first place by nearly 14 seconds with a time of 2:09.36. Junior John Mosier took third in 2:24.36, Carlozzi finished fourth and Gerken rounded out the top five.
Mikhailichenko’s final win of the day was secured by a time of 2:01.76 in the 200-yard Individual Medley. Junior Nate Bartalo, freshman Timothy Hector and senior Bradley Keith held a strong Bomber presence in the event, placing third, fourth and fifth to round out the top five.
Zaneski picked up his first-place finishes consecutively, as he won the 50-yard freestyle by racing a time of 21.97. Senior Kellen Scanlan claimed third in this event with a time of 23.17, and Hector trailed by only .08 seconds, grabbing fourth. Zaneski’s second win was in the 100-yard freestyle, as he grabbed the top spot in 48.50. Bartalo took second place with a time of 49.36, and freshman Spencer Brownewell took fourth in 50.21.
The South Hill squad showed its strength in both the 200-yard medley relay and 200-yard freestyle relay, picking up a win in each event. The 200-yard medley relay team of Brownewell, Mikhailichenko, Bartalo and Zaneski, and they secured first place comfortably by 4.3 seconds.
The Bombers earned their victory to cap off the meet in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as the team of Zaneski, junior Dan Meyers, senior Zachary Meunier and Scanlan earned the top spot in 1:29.46, grabbing the top spot by a margin of less than one second.
As for the divers, sophomore Justin Moczynski finished in second place for the 3-meter with a total score of 273.23, and the 1-meter with 272.02 points. On both the 3-meter and 1-meter board, freshman Harold Caleb Rahner finished in third, and junior Benjamin Pesco took fourth.
Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will be back in action at 2 p.m. Feb. 9 in the Athletics and Events Center Aquatics Pavilion as they host the Ithaca Invitational, the final competition prior to the upcoming Liberty League Championships.
