The Observer, December 2, 2005
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12
Men's swim team defeats national powerhouse Kenyon
Case Swimming had a busy week before the holiday break, competing in a Wednesday night five-way duel meet at Cleveland State University, and a three-way duel at home on Saturday, Nov. 19, where the men's Swimming team had an amazing victory over Kenyon College.
On Wednesday, Nov. 16, both the men's and women's teams headed to CSU to compete against Oberlin, Gannon, Baldwin Wallace, and CSU. Competition was fierce from the beginning, especially from host CSU, the only Division I team to compete.
Senior Hannah Webber got the women's team going early with an excellent 200 freestyle in 2:04.50, and she was immediately followed by sophomore Elaine Hou. It didn't take long for Case's women to shine again when freshman Lisa McHale swam a speedy 2:19.27 in the 100 IM, beating out all teams but CSU. McHale once again beat the competition in the 100 butterfly with a 1:01.57 and placing second overall behind Gannon.
Case's men's team also started out on a high note in the 200 freestyle when senior Chris Cook finished second overall with a time of 1:48.07. He later excelled in the 100 freestyle, posting a time of 48.56. Senior Justin Daggett had an amazing comeback in the 200 IM by moving up four places in the last 50 yards to secure a third place finish in 2:03.94. Senior Pat Rodjom turned in a second place finish in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.10, finishing only behind CSU. Pat Rodjom also clocked the fastest 100 breaststroke time in the UAA this season with a 59.13.
The Wednesday night meet was taxing on Case's swimming teams, but they were once again ready for action on Saturday afternoon when the men competed against Kenyon and Grove City and the women against Kenyon.
The women suffered a tough loss to Kenyon, but the challenge produced some amazing swims for the ladies. Sophomore Caitlin Gruenhagan wowed the crowd with a 1:03.98, a season best, in the 100 backstroke. In the following event, Junior Carrie Stoila turned up the heat for a 1:13.88 in the 100 breaststroke. Senior Hannah Webber had an exciting third place finish in the 200 backstroke by pulling ahead of Kenyon's third seeded woman in the last 50 yards and finishing in 2:14.36. The women finished strong, taking first place in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:43.52. The relay team consisted of Elizabeth Ehrke, Betsy Howe, Becca Winarski, and Lindsey Stahl.
The men's team defeated both Kenyon and Grove City in an exciting double duel. Some highlights included the 200 medley relay in which the men not only beat both Kenyon and Grove City for first place, but also clocked in an amazing 1:37.27, less than two seconds from the varsity record. The 200 yard freestyle team had two great swims from both Daggett and Cook who swam 1:46.90 and 1:46.96, respectively, for second and third places finishes. Cook pounded the competition again in the 100 freestyle by clocking in a 48.83 for second overall behind Grove City. Pat Rodjom received two more first places for Case in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes with times of 59.27 and 2:09.15, respectively. In both meets, Rodjam proved he is the fastest breaststroke swimmer in the conference. When asked about his breaststroke accomplishments Rodjom didn't want to talk about himself but, rather, the team.
"This year we've been swimming hard, lifting hard, and most importantly we're having a great time doing it," Rodjam said.
Head Coach Chris Conlon has been pleased with both the men and women thus far: "The last two meets represented a really big step for our team," she said. "We didn't shy away from either Division I CSU or the Kenyon program with 46 national championships between their men's and women's teams. We raced really hard and beat some of the best swimmers in the country, which I think should give us some confidence to carry over toward the end of the season."
Currently Case is ranked 12th for men and 13th for women in CollegeSwim-ming.com's duel meet rankings of Division III teams.
The Case swim teams will be competing at the Wooster Invitational this weekend.
