Excited to get a new season on the way, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams traveled to Pennsylvania hoping to start the year off with wins. One team was able to tally a win while the other has to wait to earn their first of the year.
The women (1-0) sprinted toward a 116-89 victory against Duquesne (1-1) Friday night while the men (0-1) came up short against the Duquense men (1-1), 111-94.
Head Coach Andy Bashor was pleased with how his women's team performed and the win they brought home.
"I think we did a good job," Bashor said. "The women did a really good job at being very competitive upfront and to really win the meet early and showed Duquesne that we came ready to swim."
Sophomore Jordan Deren led the women with first-place finishes in both the 1000m freestyle (10:33.79) and 500m freestyle (5:09.42). The Bulls also had victories from junior Jessica Ballard in the 200m backstroke (2:09.58) and sophomore Jessie Koltz in the 50m freestyle (24.46).
The Bulls had victories from a couple newcomers as well. Freshmen Alison Schirmers and Brynn Marecki both earned first-place finishes, with Schirmers winning the 200m freestyle in 1:57.55 and Marecki taking the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:22.08.
The men's team, on the other hand, was not strong enough to defeat the Dukes. Senior Zach Ruske and juniors Connor Vander Zalm, Scott Woster and Kevin Song all did their part, placing first in individual events.
Ruske finished the 200m backstroke with a time of 1:53.31 while Vander Zalm completed the 1000m freestyle in 10:09.02. Woster swam the 200m butterfly finishing in 1:55.69, while Songswam won the 200m breaststroke in 2:13.37
Overall, Bashor thinks his men's team needs to work harder and get better results, especially on the road.
"On the guys side I think we could have done better, they had a really good swim but across the board I think they need to be better prepared." he said.
Despite the season-opening loss, Bashor believes the meet was a good learning experience for the newcomers as well as for the coaches to see what areas the team must improve on.
"One of the positives was just getting in and racing in a dual meet, especially because we are a young team," Bashor said. "On the men's side, this was their first dual meet experience for a lot of them. Some reacted better than others, but for us to be able to see that, we can now help them out a little more."
Bashor was very pleased with how the women's team preformed and hopes his team continues to remain strong.
"To come out with a win, that's a positive," he said. "To be able to travel, to go
there and swim a lot of races and win a meet, that's a big positive."
Bashor hopes that his team becomes more focused and more determined to win. He is looking forward to see his team improve with each meet and build up for the Mid-American Conference Championships.
"We just have to do a better job of preparing and doing the little things better during practice and having more focus during practice," Bashor said. "We want to reach to the goals that we think we can do."
The women's team has a MAC team on tap when they face Miami (OH) at Alumni Arena on Friday at 5 p.m. The next time the men race will be on Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. at Eastern Michigan.
