SCHENECTADY, NY - Another solid team effort and a number of victories paced the Vassar College women's and men's swimming & diving teams to victory on Saturday, defeating the teams from Union College. The Brewers women bested the Dutchwomen, 161-128, while the VC men earned a 167-111 win against Union. The women and men improve to 9-1 and 6-3, respectively on the season.
Action opened in the 200-medley relay as juniors Rhea Randhawa, Stephanie Kaplan, Brynn Lautenbacher and sophomore Jesse Ecklund combined for a winning time of 1:55.71 on the women's side. The men's event saw the foursome of junior
Max White, rookie
Anthony Cheng, and seniors
Harrison Taylor and
Matthew Imiolek take second in a time of 1:42.45. Next up was the 1000-freestyle as rookie Abby Whittington was second with a time of 11:48.73, while the men's side saw senior
Jordan Kalina victorious in a time of 10:41.17.
In the 200-free, Ecklund earned the win with a time of 2:02.97, while junior Angharad Healey was second in a time of 2:03.75. The men's side saw sophomores
Jake Mier and
Ethan Skuches take second and third with marks of 1:51.19 and 1:51.83, respectively. Randhawa earned an individual victory in the 100-backstroke, finishing with a time of 1:02.34, while White was second on the men's side with a time of 55.00 - fractions behind the winner (54.95).
Cheng picked up a victory in the men's 100-breaststroke, touching in a time of 1:04.18, while in the women's 200-fly, rookie Lillian Lowenthal was second overall with a time of 2:11.47. It was a big showing for the Brewers in the 50-free as the top four times on each side belong to VC. On the women's side, sophomore Violet Witchel won with a time of 25.44. Lautenbacher was second with a time of 25.61, rookie Sophie Forbes was third in a time of 25.93 followed by Whittington with a time of 26.57. The men's side saw Imiolek win with a time of 22.92. Sophomore
Nikolas Pham was second with a time of 23.48, classmate
Brandon Li took third in 23.66, while rookie
Leroy Wang posted a mark of 24.05.
Switching gears to diving, freshman Evelyn Boyle was third in the women's 1-meter with a score of 122.17, while in the men's 3-meter, sophomore
Sam Murphy earned the win with a mark of 156.67 points.
In the return to the pool, Witchel notched her second win of the day in the 100-free with a time of 56.43, rookie Grace Myers was close behind in second with 56.61, while Forbes earned third with a time of 58.61. The men's event saw Li earn second with a time of 51.55. In her signature event, the 200-back, Ecklund was victorious once again with a time of 2:11.34, while in the women's 200-breast, Lowenthal grabbed her first individual victory with a mark of 2:31.54. The men's 200-breast was won by Pham, who took the win with a time of 2:23.30, while Mier was second in the event with a time of 2:25.18.
The 500-free saw Healey pick up the win on the women's side, touching the wall in a time of 5:29.23, while the men's event was won by Kalina as he posted a time of 5:11.83. Freshman Matthew Norris took runner-up in a time of 5:18.00. Lautenbacher was the victor in the 100-fly as she touched in a time of 1:02.48, while on the men's side, White took second with a time of 54.65. Next up in the men's 1-meter dive, Murphy earned his second win with a score of 173.10.
Lowenthal then earned second overall in the 400-IM, posting a time of 4:44.64, while the men's side saw Mier and Cheng take second (4:32.64) and third (4:37.21), respectively.
The final events of the day saw the women's foursome of Witchel, Forbes, Lautenbacher and Ecklund combine for a winning time of 1:41.78, while the men's side saw Li, Imiolek, Pham and White victorious with a mark of 1:31.87.
Vassar's squads return to the pool on Wednesday when they travel to Montclair State for a 6pm dual meet in New Jersey. The Brewers then return home on Saturday in the Vassar Sprint Invitational. That event begins at 1pm and will see the Class of 2020 celebrated.
