Swim Sweeps York and Hood Dual Meet

This past Friday, the University of Mary Washington men’s and women’s swimming teams hosted a dual-dual meet against conference competitors York College and Hood College. Both UMW teams swept the opposition, bringing the women’s season record to 6-1 overall and the men to 4-2.

Final scores for the UMW men were tallied at 79-40 topping Hood and 69-50 defeating York. On the women’s side, the Eagles beat Hood 69-40 and out played York 67-52.

Both UMW teams went into the meet with confidence and expectations that they met. By the end of the meet, the men and women’s teams both had won every event. Friday’s meet was an opportunity for competitive conditioning that the teams sought to undertake as a complement to their rigorous season long training.

“We had a very intense week of practice prior to the meet, trying to break ourselves down as much as possible so that we can swim fast towards the end of the season,” said senior Ian McCormick.

Despite these conference successes, the Eagle men and women are not slowing down when it comes to their team training and progress in preparation for their remaining season and the Capital Athletic Conference championships.

“We still have a lot of room for improvements this season,” McCormick said. “We will continue to work hard throughout the year and continue to drop time.”

Among a long list of first place performances from the meet, notable individual finishes came from sophomore Lindsay Ancellotti with a 11:01.25 in the 1000 freestyle, senior Sarah Crockett with a 1:01.78 in the 100 backstroke and 53.80 in the 100 freestyle. Junior Meg Anderson also triumphed in the 500 freestyle with 5:32.18.

For the men, outstanding wins came from sophomore Jack McHugh with a 10:35.78 in the 1000 freestyle, junior Billy Norfolk in the 200 fly with a 1:55.47 and senior Brad Dunn swimming a 4:59.13 in the 500 free.

Both swim teams are scheduled to compete next at an invitational in Kentucky and will be occupied until then with continuing two-a-day practices and a winter break training trip.

At the meet in Kentucky, both teams hope to have as many swimmers qualify for nationals as are currently near their respective qualifying times.

Next spring the Eagle teams look to add another conference title to their current nine-year streak as reigning champions.

image credit: Paul Tindall/The Bullet