The Elizabethtown College swim teams faced conference opponent Widener University this past Saturday in their last home meet of the season. The women’s team was able to beat the Pride 106-97 for the first time since 2009, while the men fell 140-31. The women won six out of the 10 events on the day, including junior Becky Lane’s sweeping the freestyle sprint races. The men’s team did not fare so well, winning only one event, the 500-yard freestyle by junior Frank Capria. The men’s team fell to 2-9 overall and 1-6 in the Middle Atlantic Conference, while the women’s team climbed to 5-6 overall and 3-4 in the conference.
The meet came a few days after the cancellation of Wednesday’s mid-week meet at McDaniel College. The non-conference meet was cancelled due to the snow storm that passed through the area on Tuesday. This gave the Blue Jays a week in between two home meets.
Lane, who is among the top in the conference in the 50-yard freestyle, was unchallenged against the Pride (3-8, 2-4 MAC), winning by more than a second with her time of 26.25. The 100-yard freestyle would be more tightly contested, but Lane again came through with a 57.56 to beat Widener’s Sara Leonelli, who swam 57.69. Kimberly Cosgrove, one of three seniors honored Saturday along with Megan Leary and Megan Leppo, won the 1000-yard free in 11:35.32, four-tenths ahead of Leonelli. Sophomore Ashley Dispenziere won the 200-yard butterfly with a MAC “A cut” qualifying time of 2:37.69, while sophomore Amanda Long posted a victory in the 200-yard breast stroke with a time of 2:43.12. Sophomore Bonnie Lisk secured an “A cut” time of 2:29.94 in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing behind Widener’s All-American, Laura Harris, who is the conference’s top swimmer in six individual events.
Leary put in a “B cut” time of 5:38.25 in the 400-yard individual medley. Etown also won the 400-yard freestyle relay with
sophomores Rachel Engelhardt, Colleen Barry, Cosgrove and Lane defeating Widener’s “A relay” by just over a second with a time of 4:01.75.
For the men, Capria put down a 5:17.99 to win the 500-yard freestyle by over eight seconds. The junior also took second in the 1000-yard freestyle with a season-best 10:54.25. First-year Jake Stonecipher came within .63 seconds of an “A cut” mark in the 400-individual medley, swimming 5:20.63. His time was well within the MAC’s “B cut” time, however.
Both teams wrap up their regular season schedules on Saturday at King’s College (Pa.) at 1 p.m. A win next Saturday in the regular season finale next Saturday at King’s (Pa.) would push the women to a 6-6 finish and a 4-4 record against MAC schools. A .500 season would be a fantastic bounce back for the Jays after a 2-10 season in 2012-13. Etown should also have a number of swimmers in contention for medals or All-MAC finishes at the upcoming conference meet.
When asked about preparations, Leppo stated that she believes the Blue Jays can do very well in the last meet of the year and onto the MAC championships. “We have a strong group going into MACs. I’m really excited to see what everyone can do,” she said. “I hope Etown swimming leaves a lasting impression as we conclude our final year in the MAC conference.”
Capria spoke about the women’s victory and the importance of their upperclassmen. “It was great to see the women’s team pull an upset win over Widener, especially during the senior meet,” Capria said. “It’ll be sad to be without the seniors next year.”