The Elizabethtown College women’s swim team left Frostburg State University in defeat on Friday, Jan. 30. Frostburg came up with wins in the final two events, snatching the competition away from Etown with a final score of 135-124.
Heading into the second to last event, the 200-meter individual medley, the Blue Jays held a tight two-point lead of 113-111, but with strong finishes from Frostburg going 1-2, pushed the Bobcats in the front. With one event to go, the 200-meter free relay, the Blue Jays had one last opportunity to turn the meet in their favor.
Starting the 200 free relay was junior Rachel Engelhardt who stayed close, giving senior Tara Deisher room to take the lead halfway through the race with a 30.11 50-meter split. Graduate student Kimberly Cosgrove held the lead Deisher created and anchor junior Joni Fleming clocked the second fastest split by any swimmer in the race with a split time of 29.57. Unfortunately, Frostburg first-year Macey Nitchie beat the time with a split of 27.51 to steal the win from the Blue Jays.
Leader of the relay, Engelhardt, was successful. She swam the freestyle in the medley relay which was comprised of all juniors. She enjoyed swimming in a relay with her classmates. Her next event was the 200 freestyle. Although she said she could have raced better, she pulled through with a second place finish. Engelhardt also placed second in the 100 freestyle. Her Frostburg competitor was the same in both of these races.
Engelhardt, who just completed a semester abroad at James Cook University in Australia used this meet to hone her skills and secure her spot in the Landmark Conference. She was able to work on her sprinting, starts and turns. Only able to swim in four meets, Engelhardt pushed herself, trying to secure lower seed times for going into the Landmark Conference meet. Battling the flu just a week ago during a meet against McDaniel College, she gained her strength back quickly to succeed in both meets. “The team as a whole did very well… with so many close races for both the women’s and men’s team, it was a great meet to watch and be involved in,” Engelhardt said.
Graduate student Kimberly Cosgrove had another amazing meet just after winning the 500 and 1,000 yard freestyle events against McDaniel at the home meet. She claimed the 800-meter freestyle and the 400-meter freestyle in 10:11.48 and 5:05.32, respectively. She improved her 800-meter time by 50 seconds. Junior Amanda Long excelled in a tight race in the 100-meter breaststroke. Long out touched her opponent at the wall by seven hundredths of a second with a winning time of 1:20.52. Long also finished second by just one hundredth of a second in the 50 meter breaststroke with a time of 37.44.
Choosing to swim in an extended meet in a sprint format, the Blue Jays and the Bobcats both excelled in the sprinting events. Blue Jay junior Bonnie Lisk won the uncommon 50 meter backstroke in a time of 34.94, besting her opponent by half a second. Lisk later competed in the 100-meter backstroke, helping the Blue Jays sweep the event with a winning time of 1:15.80. Lisk also swam butterfly in the 200-meter medley relay. She was pleased with how she performed individually and how the team performed. Going into the home stretch with the Landmark Conference meet approaching, Lisk used this meet to work on her speed. This meet was a little different than most dual meets, so Lisk and her teammates had some fun with the lineup. Their coach placed people in events that they might not usually have a chance to ever swim in and had senior, junior and sophomore class relay teams. Lisk is happy with her season so far. Overcoming injuries this season, Lisk has still been hitting her normal times and achieving season bests which she couldn’t be happier about. Looking forward to the Landmark Conference meet, she is excited to see what is in store for her and her teammates.
The Blue Jays will spend the next few weeks tapering for their first Landmark Conference play-off meet starting on Feb. 13 in Boyds, Md.
