The Case Western Reserve University swimming and diving teams returned from winter break and hosted State University of New York at Geneseo in a dual meet at the Veale Natatorium on Jan. 19 and 20. While the Spartans came out with some strong performances, the SUNY Geneseo Knights swam a near perfect meet to defeat CWRU in both the women’s and men’s meets, 185.5 to 114.5 and 158 to 142, respectively.

After the losses, both the men’s and women’s teams fell to 6-2 for the year in dual meets.

The teams had spent the end of their break in Tampa, Florida on a training trip to prepare for the remainder of the season. During this trip, the Spartans notably spent a day giving back to the local Tampa community at the Habitat for Human ReStore. The teams helped move furniture, stock shelves and perform other labor-type tasks to help the charity.

Returning from the strenuous training trip, Head Coach Doug Milliken was pleased with the way his team performed in the dual meet despite the loss.

“I think the team is looking good,” said Milliken. “They look a little tired, but that’s to be expected. Overall, I am very pleased with where we are.”

Milliken praised the Knights’ performance while considering what his teams could have done better.

“It was a pretty solid meet for us, it really was,” said Milliken, “We ran into a team that swam incredibly well and just got the better of us.”

Milliken was particularly impressed by the performances of fourth-year swimmer Inez Moore and second-year swimmer Monica Khare on the women’s side, and fourth-year swimmer John Kilbane and first-year swimmer Will McDonald on the men’s side.

The Spartans do not have much time to regroup, as they will travel to Hillsdale, Michigan to face Ohio Northern University and Hillsdale College on Jan. 27 at 1 p.m.

Milliken is planning to use the meet as another opportunity to get his team fully prepared for the championship meets down the road.

“Everything now is geared towards preparing for the end of the season,” Milliken said. “This weekend is also a good opportunity to travel and compete in an unfamiliar place. Taking us out of our comfort zone is never a bad thing.”