Over the past week, the Elizabethtown College swim team went on the road against Immaculata University and Goucher University for their first swim meet of the season. The Blue Jays headed on a road trip to Immaculata, Pennsylvania to face off against their competition, a meet that last year had been scheduled at the home pool at Elizabethtown.
In the 200 yard medley, Etown got wins to start off the meet, with the women’s team, consisting of sophomore Emma Paul, first-years Kora Tedesco and Rebekah Bermudez, and senior Katie Midura, picking up the victory over Immaculata by less than a second.
The men’s team, with first-years Chase Kashack, Sam Coolbaugh and, Tyler O’Brien, and junior Marco Niosi, dominated their competition, defeating the second place team by almost seven seconds.
Midura and sophomore Maura Swab took out the competition in the 200 yard freestyle, finishing first and second to lead the way for the Blue Jays. First-year Max Kulp led the Blue Jays in the men’s event, finishing first ahead of the second place Immaculata swimmer by only a tenth of a second.
Sophomore Katarina Linde finished first by over three seconds in the 50 yard breaststroke, while the men’s team took the top four spots in the same event, with junior Barron Bishop leading the way with a sub-30 second time. O’Brien followed up his medley win earlier in the meet with a win in the 50 yard backstroke by over a second and a half.
Niosi also added onto his win total, defeating the field with a 22.69 time in the 50 yard freestyle, defeating the next swimmer by almost two seconds. Tedesco and O’Brien both kept the winning going for the Blue Jays, winning their respective groups in the 100 yard backstroke event. O’Brien crushed the competition, winning by over four seconds to the next swimmer, while Tedesco barely edged out the Immaculata swimmer by over a half of a second.
Midura added to the Etown point total with a win in the 100 yard breaststroke and Niosi was able to help Etown sweep the event with a win in the men’s group for the stroke. Kulp led the Blue Jays in the 500 yard freestyle, while three other Blue Jays were right behind him in the event, being sophomores Billy Bartolomei and Cameron Stambaugh, and junior Jack Rosen. Tedesco added the final victory for Etown in the individual events, picking up the win in the 50 yard fly with a time under 30 seconds.
For the women’s 200 yard freestyle, the Blue Jays were able to pick up a victory with the combined efforts of Bermudez, Linde, Swab, and first-year Kaylie Ford. The men’s team was able to follow suit of the women’s team, picking up a win of their own off of dominant performances from Bartolomei, Bishop, and first-years Sean Mattison and Gage Myers.
The Blue Jays were able to defeat Goucher with a score of 106-18 and defeated Immaculata with a score of 98-30. The Blue Jays hope to keep swimming ahead with another meet against Moravian University and Lebanon Valley College on the spookiest night of the year on Halloween, Oct. 31. After that home meet, the Blue Jays won’t return back to Alumni Pool until Dec. 5, where they will take on St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
