The men's and women's swimming and diving teams traveled in opposite directions last weekend, with the women stomping a pair of league foes in New York City, while the men dropped a match in Cambridge, Mass.
The women claimed landslide victories over Cornell and host Columbia, giving them three straight wins over Ivy League opponents and improving their conference and overall record to 4-2. One week after narrowly edging the University of Pennsylvania at home, Bruno defeated the Lions 186-114 and the Big Red 222.5-77.5.
Brown was led by a strong performance from Eileen Robinson '06, who won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.02 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 52.22. She finished her day by anchoring the first-place performance of the 400-yard relay team of Elizabeth Wong '06, Becky Kowalsky '07 and Sarah Goodman '09.
Kowalsky had a big day of her own, winning the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events and finishing second in the 200-yard butterfly to Meredith Cocco '07, who won with a time of 2:05.63. Cocco also won the 400-yard individual medley in 4:31.96. Bridgette Cahill came in a close second at 4:35.37.
"We are at the point in the season when things start to come together," Cocco said. "Our championship meet is less than a month away, so it's good to see everyone swimming so well."
In diving, Jessica Larson '06 notched a pair of victories with wins in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. Dana Meadow '07 and Amy Latinen '07 took the fourth and fifth positions in the 1-meter dive, respectively. The two reversed positions in the 3-meter event, with Latinen taking fourth and Meadow placing fifth.
As the women prepare for postseason competition, Head Coach Peter Brown wants to keep the team's focus on the task in front of them.
"We are in a good position, but it is important to take things one step at a time and not look too far ahead," Brown said. "We need to manage each step of the process and keep getting better along the way."
The women will travel to New Haven on Friday to battle a talented Yale team.
Crimson loss leaves men under .500The men's swimming and diving team competed well last weekend, but was out-muscled by a powerful Harvard squad. The Crimson won 14 of 16 events in its home pool to defeat the Bears, 194-104. With the loss, Bruno's record drops to 2-2 in league meets and 2-3 overall.
Harvard entered the meet ranked 25th in the country and holding the top power ranking among mid-major universities. Regardless of where they finished on the medal stand, the Bears still managed to post some fast times. This was in line with Coach Brown's plan to "put up some good numbers while not getting hung up with who the opponent was."
Brown's two wins came from Grant Garcia '08 and Kevin Hug '08. Garcia took the top spot in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:00.22 and Hug touched the wall in 52.92 to win the 100-yard backstroke. Despite winning only two events, the team kept within striking distance by collecting a number of second and third-place finishes.
"I felt that overall we swam very well as a team," Hug said. "We competed hard and won some close races."
The diving squad pitched in with second places finishes by William Kai Robinson '09 collected in both the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions. Matthew Freitas '07 finished third in both events.
The meet gave the Bears a chance to gauge their progress since winter break while competing in a high-intensity meet. With the postseason loom-ing, Coach Brown is happy with his team's position.
"The guys are doing a nice job and that is reflected in our times," he said. "We are right where we need to be, starting to come to life and becoming more competitive."
The Bears return to action at noon on Saturday in the Smith Swim Center, where they will take on Columbia in their final home meet of the season.
