Swarthmore Swimming Sits Atop Centennial Conference
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - The Swarthmore swim teams enjoyed a historic night of firsts Wednesday at Ware Pool after defeating Washington (Md.) 119-86 on the men's side and 107-98 on the women's side in the final Centennial dual meet of the 2006-07 season. Senior Jason Horwitz was a double-winner for the men while freshman Anne Miller was a triple-winner for the women.
The Garnet men (7-2 overall, 6-0 CC) complete its first undefeated Centennial slate, capturing the outright dual meet title for the first time in school history while the women (7-3 overall, 5-1 CC) picked up a share of the dual meet title for the first time, completing the regular season in a three-way tie with Gettysburg and Franklin & Marshall.
The Garnet men got the historic night rolling with a dominating performance in the 400 medley relay. Sophomore Douglas Gilchrist-Scott got it started with a 56.30 split in the backstroke, senior Andrew Koczo flew down the lane during the breaststroke in 59.45, Brian Roth '07 kept the four second advantage up with a strong butterfly, and freshly-mohawked Jason Horwitz '07 completed the win with a 49.10 freestyle leg (overall time was 3:40.31).
Frampton rolled to an easy win in the 1,000 free, lapping all the other competitors (except second-place Reid Wilkening '10 - 10:57.09) with a time of 10:27.43. After Michael Ann '10 (1:48.72) and Stephen Shymon '08 (1:51.37) picked up second and third, respectively in the 200 free, Horwitz made a big turn in the 50 free, rolling to victory in a time of 22.39. The Garnet upped their lead to 61-32 after picking up three of the top four spots in the 200 IM.
The men continued to pick up large chunks of points, claiming second, third and fourth in the 200 butterfly, the 100 freestyle and the 200 backstroke--Horwitz made a valiant comeback in the backstroke, finishing just a hair out of first (2:09.04) after a thinking a false start had occurred, starting the race late.
The Garnet clinched the dual meet title after the 500 freestyle, taking the top three positions--Shymon (4:59.54) and Frampton (5:00.68) brought home the banner with their traditional neck-and-neck battle.
On the women's side, the Garnet (7-3 overall, 6-1 CC) 400 freestyle relay teams picked up second and third. Freshman Anne Miller took top honors in the 1,000 with a time of 11:07.52 while Julia Wroeble '10 and Jennie Lewis '08 took second (2:00.56) and third (2:04.35), respectively in the 200 freestyle.
Swarthmore kept the momentum going, sweeping the 50 freestyle, led by Cotcamp (25.53). Miller picked up her second victory of the night in the 200 butterfly (2:10.93), just beating classmate Casey Osborn (2:11.47) to put the Garnet ahead 61-51.
The Shorewomen pulled ahead, 76-74, after strong efforts in the 100 free and 200 back stroke, but the Garnet forged ahead with a sweep in the 500 freestyle. Miller collected her third win of the night (5:29.66) with Lewis close behind at (5:31.73). Swarthmore clinched its seventh win of the season by swimming one-two in the 200 breaststroke--senior Jennie Yeo was first (2:33.53) with classmate Michele Hom close behind in second (2:34.84).
Both teams will train over the next nine days in preparation for the 2007 Centennial Conference Championships, set to take place on Feb. 16-18 at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. Fans can follow live action of the Championships via the Centennial Conference site and Franklin & Marshall College.