Lauren Boone
Contributing Writer
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams began their season against UMBC in Baltimore last weekend with the men winning eight races and the women winning seven. The meet was not scored, so as to give the teams a chance to experience competition early in the season.
For the women, Emma Levendoski ’16 led her team with the most wins in her first collegiate competition. She took first in the 50, 100 and 200 backstroke, while Kelly Pontecorvo ’14 won the 500 and 1,000 freestyle. To round out the first place finishes for the Bison, Lauren Perry ’15 won the 200 freestyle and Elizabeth Porcellio ’13 won the 200 individual medley (IM). Additionally, Perry was the runner-up in the 50 freestyle, while Porcellio finished second in the 100 and 400 IM.
“Overall, the meet was a success and a good start to the season. It was a low stress meet so it was really just a good way for me, as a freshman, to see how the team works in a meet situation. Everyone swam as well as they expected to and we all had a great time,” Levendoski said.
On the men’s side, Cameron James ’16 proved himself with a trifecta of victories, winning the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle heats. Mike Nicholson ’14 won the 200 and 400 IM races, while Trevor Reitz ’14 won the 50 butterfly. Ben Seketa ’15 won the 200 breaststroke and Christian Treat ’13 won the 100 breaststroke.
“I think the meet this past weekend was a great first step in our season. We wanted to start off well as a team, and I feel we did just that,” James said. “This was my first competition as a member of the men’s swimming team, so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to prove myself. However, it is still early in our season, which means we have a lot of work ahead of us as a team. Our goal is to get better every week, and we began looking forward to our next contest at the conclusion of Saturday’s competition.”
Additionally, Brian Phillips ’16 placed second in the 1,000 freestyle, JT Nangle ’16 finished second in the 50 backstroke and third in the 100 backstroke and Wes Marberry ’16 took third in the 200 backstroke.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will be back in action in two weeks when they travel to Storrs, Conn. to take on UConn on Oct. 20.
