The Elizabethtown men’s swim team battled against Frostburg State University on Friday, Jan. 30 at the Bobcat Natatorium in their final meet before heading into the Landmark Championships in February. The Blue Jays were unable to prevail as they lost 168-82 which brought their record to 2-7 overall and 1-2 in the Landmark Conference.
Senior Frank Capria took first place in the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle. He secured the team’s first win by starting off strong in the 800m freestyle. He was uncontested and took first place with a time of 9:39.99 which was about 10 seconds faster than his time at Lebanon Valley in November, Etown’s only other meet in a meter pool.
“I liked that my converted times stayed consistent with my times on Wednesday,” said Capria. “My backstroke needs to be worked on these next two weeks before going into the championships.”
Capria also clocked in with a 4:37.98 in the 400-meter freestyle. This time was about 10 seconds better than his previous races and enable him to take first place in both long distance events.
First-year David Foery secured Elizabethtown’s consecutive win when he took first place in the 200-meter freestyle and shave off six-hundredths of a second of his previous best by clocking in at 2:08.52. Foery narrowly defeated Frostburg State’s James Williams by a little more than a second.
Despite Capria and Foery’s performances, Frostburg State (3-10) finished 2-3-4 in the races that Etown won which cancelled out the Blue Jay’s nine points with nine of their own.
The team finished off the meet with a win in the 200-meter freestyle relay after Frostburg was disqualified. The relay team, which consisted of juniors Etownian Business Manager Conner Land and Omar Zabala, sophomore Jake Stonecipher and first-year Clayton Leab, scored a time of 2:04.95 with Leab recording its fastest 50 split from his lead off with a 27.72.
“It was a good meet to let everyone swim what they wanted and to try and get better times to be seeded better for championships,” Land said. “It also allowed our coach to see what he should focus on the next two weeks for each individual swimmer.”
Etown will be taking the next two weeks to prepare for the Landmark Conference Championships, held Feb. 13 to 15 at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center in Boyds, Md. This will be the first time Etown will compete in the Landmark Championships.
“I think the team is trying to make a good first impression since this is our first time swimming at the Landmarks Championships,” Land said. “I know for the seniors especially, they are hoping to have great swims and hopefully make the podium. Everyone is still trying to get their best times and place.”
In preparation for the championships, the team has made adjustments in the way they are training as well as in the event selection for their meets. In the meet against Frostburg, Foery moved into the 50-meter butterfly and Capria moved into the 50-meter backstroke. They also began the process of tapering their muscles in order to give their bodies a chance to rebuild for the championships.
Even though their regular season record was not promising they are still hoping to finish the season strong and try to record their best times at the championships.
“I think as a team we have made great strides and have had struggles,” Land said. “Overall, I feel that we are closer as a team, and everyone has gotten great times. We hope to carry a positive attitude into the championship. The freshman have definitely come in and showed that they can work hard and compete at a college level. The seniors have stayed focused and put all of their hearts into their final season, and each senior will be missed by every swimmer.”
