The Observer, December 7, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 13
Swimming takes bronze at Wooster
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The Spartan swimmers competed in the College of Wooster Invitational from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 in Wooster, Ohio. The men's and women's teams both finished in 3rd place overall for both, with huge improvements in the number of points scored over past seasons. The swimmers battled against tough opponents, including Saint Vincent College, Allegheny College, Oberlin College, Ohio Northern University, and the College of Wooster. The teams that finished ahead of the Spartans, Westminster and Wooster on the men's side and Wooster and Allegheny on the women's, put down several times that were near NCAA qualifying marks.
The invitational format has all of the teams competing against one another with different events each day. Most events at the meet are in trials/finals format. Everyone entered in a given event competes in the morning and the top 24 come back at night to swim again for points.
The first day of competition went well for the Spartans. The 400-yard medley relay team, consisting of Robby Browning, Drew Kouri, John Somerville, and Dan Wolak, finished in second place with a time of 3:32.81, just a half-second behind Wooster's first- place team. Additionally, the 200-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Chris Marquiss, Dan Wolak, Brian Grady, and Drew Kouri placed third, one second behind first-place winner Wooster, at 1:26.88. On the women's side, the 200-yard freestyle relay team, including Lindsey Stahl, Nicole Lord, Becca Winarski, and Marine Gu, finished fifth overall and Amanda Timson finished as the top day one individual for the Spartans, coming in fifth in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:27.34.
On the second day of the meet, the swimmers won three individual events and placed well in relays. John Somerville won the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:17.68, while Drew Kouri broke one minute in the 100-yard breaststroke with an incredible time of 58.75. Also, Drew Swartz defeated Ian Pellerin of Ohio Wesleyan by 0.13 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke to take first place, coming in at 1:35.72. On the women's side, Marine Gu came in second overall in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:58.73, while the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Stahl, Gu, Timson, and Kelly Chang finished fifth with a time of 8:17.27.
In terms of overall score, including both men's and women's teams, Wooster won with a combined total of 3244 points. Westminster College took second with 2585 points, while the Spartans came in third with 2299 points. Coach Chris Conlon was pleased with the results of the match.
"Both teams not only swam hard, they were very supportive of one another and everyone was up and cheering like crazy. It was a fun environment and I feel like our team really believes that they are really preparing to swim lights out at the end of the season."
The Spartans are not scheduled to compete again until Jan. 12 when they host the Carnegie Mellon Tartans at the Veale Natatorium.
