The men and women’s swim teams competed in the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships at the Graham Aquatic Center in York, Pa. on Feb. 14 and 16. This was the teams’ last MAC Championship, as they will be moving to the Landmark conference next year.
The championship meets took place over four days. Going into the championships, the women’s team had a 5-7 overall record and the men’s team had a 2-10 overall record. “Our season was great for the girls. The guys lost a close one to Arcadia University and had a rough season with injuries and other issues,” junior Frank Capria said.
Senior Megan Leppo was please with her team’s final performance in the MAC. “Overall, the season has been very successful. We were one meet away from a 5-5 record. Unfortunately, we lost our last dual meet to King’s College (Pa.) by a mere three points. We gave some good fights throughout the season and had a lot of good races and times,” she said. As a culmination of the whole year, the swimmers were determined to give it their all and do their best. “I just wanted everyone to go out and swim their races and be happy with their final times. We had a few races we were especially looking forward to, including top contenders such as junior sprinter Becki Lane,” Leppo said.
Day two of the MAC Championships brought different results for each team. The men stood in eighth and the women stood in ninth in the relays, which had been completed the previous day. The standouts on the men’s swim team were Capria and first-year Kieran Koehler. Capria and Koehler improved their times, but Capria did not feel that he performed his best. “Friday morning I was upset with not breaking 5:00.00 in the 500 and being .09 off my career best,” Capria said. The Blue Jays placed ninth in the 400 medley relay. The relay team consisted of Koehler, first-year Ramon Rios, and seniors Michael Rentschler and Andrew Malik.
Lane was a standout on the women’s team on day two. “There were a lot of personal best times seen this weekend, including Lane’s beating her 50 free record in the preliminaries Friday morning,” Leppo said. Senior Kimberly Cosgrove was also responsible for a season-best in the 500 free. The 400 medley team of sophomores Bonnie Lisk, Amanda Long, Ashley Dispenziere and Rachel Engelhardt also placed ninth. The women’s swim team was in eighth place at the end of day two.
Saturday, which was day three of the MAC Championships, was productive for the men’s team. Capria almost made it into the B Final but narrowly missed the cut-off time. Koehler was once again leading the team, as he greatly cut his time while swimming the 100-yard breaststroke. In addition to this, he also placed seventh in the night’s A Final. Koehler swam the sixth quickest 100 time in the discipline of the breast in the 400 medley. Malik achieved a great time in the preliminaries of the 200 free and joined Capria, Rios and Koehler to secure ninth place and a season-best in the 400 medley.
On day three of the MAC Championships, Long, Engelhardt and Mariselle Parisi each pulled out of their preliminary heats into the B Finals. Long and Engelhardt qualified in the 100-yard breaststroke and Parisi qualified for the 200 free. Parisi, the only first-year to qualify for the MAC Championships, dropped three seconds off her time in order to qualify for the consolidations. The relay team of Lane, Tara Deisher, Cosgrove and Engelhardt swam the 200 free relay and achieved seventh place, missing all-conference honors.
On Sunday after the men finished in tenth and the women finished in ninth, the team reflected on its last MAC Championship. “We were honored to qualify and simply wanted to better ourselves,” Leppo said. “The competition was intense. Some swimmers really excel in this setting, so sometimes we’re faster than expected. However, I think everyone realized you can’t control what everyone else does and focused on bettering themselves.”
