Garnet Conclude First Semester in Lancaster
LANCASTER, Pa. -- The Swarthmore swim teams completed the first semester at the annual Franklin & Marshall Invite this past weekend, as eight swimmers posted top-five individual finishes in the Kunkel Aquatic Center.
The Swarthmore men tallied 350 points over the two-day event held at the site of the Centennial Championship Meet, finishing in fifth place while the women took sixth place with 285 total points. Kutztown (773 points) captured the women’s title while the host Diplomats (683) won the men’s title for the first time in the 11-year history of the meet.
Senior Doug Gilchrist-Scott (Canton, Ohio / Hoover) took fifth place in the 50 freestyle (22.11) and came back later for a sixth-place finish in the 100 freestyle, posting a season-best 48.93 time. In between, Gilchrist-Scott swam the anchor leg of the 200-yard medley that finished a close fourth. The senior combined with Santiago Lombo ’11 (Houston, Texas / Strake Jesuit), Sterling Satterfield ’11 (Durham, N.C. / Charles E. Jordan) and Sam Bullard-Sisken ’12 (Silver Spring, Md. / Montgomery Blair) to record a time of 1:40.85, the best of the season.
Freshman Lance Liu (Paoli, Pa. / Conestoga) posted a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke (a collegiate-best time of 1:01.60) with Satterfield close behind in sixth-place (1:02.35). Liu later posted another season-best with a third-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:14.65) with Satterfield nipping at his heels in fourth place (2:15.52).
Senior Stephen Shymon (Encinitas, Calif. / University of San Diego) placed third in the grueling 1,650-yard freestyle, with a time of 17:40.11, after earlier rolling to a fifth-place finish, posting a time of 4:28.50 in the 400 IM.
The Garnet men, led by Gilchrist-Scott, freshman Neil Palmer (Tecumseh, Mich. / Tecumseh), Liu and Shymon, swam fifth in the 800-yard freestyle relay.
Casey Osborn ‘10 (Albany, Calif. / Albany) and Naomi Glassman ‘12 (Palo Alto, Calif. / Henry Gunn) once again displayed Swarthmore’s strength in the butterfly events on the women’s side. Glassman dropped a 1:01 time in the 100-yard event (her best collegiate time), finishing in second place while Osborn was close behind in fourth place (1:02.28). The pair switched places in the 200-yard event; Osborn was second in 2:16.41 while Glassman finished fourth (2:17.90).
Sophomore Chelsea Brett (Mechanicsburg, Pa. / Trinity) split between three Kutztown swimmers in the 200 freestyle, breaking the two-minute barrier for the second time in her career. Brett posted a season-best time of 1:59.78 for a second-place finish. Su swam fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke, finishing with a season-best time of 2:34.49.
Swarthmore takes a break until after the New Year’s Day when the team will travel to Aruba for conditioning. The Garnet return to the dual-meet action on January 24, 2009 when Cabrini visits Ware Pool at 2:00 p.m.
Click here for F&M Invitational results.