By Akshay Kripalani Staff writer
The Susquehanna men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams came away with two wins on the road against Marywood and Drew on Nov. 5.
The men’s team scored 194 points while Marywood and Drew scored 73 and 69 points.
The River Hawks won 10 out of the 14 events, starting with the first event of diving. Sophomore Kyle O’Donnell scored 318.38 points in the 100-meter dive to win easily, scoring 128.78 points more than the second place finisher.
The 200-yard medley relay team, consisting of senior Eric Lawrence, sophomore James Orzolek and freshmen David Grove and Shane Sullivan, finished first in the event with a time of 1:43.21.
Sophomore Ryan Nathan won the 1000-yard freestyle with his time of 10:31.73, while Grove and freshman Owen Madden finished first and second in the 100-yard backstroke, setting personal records in the process.
Sullivan won the 100-yard breaststroke with his personal best time of 1:03.96, and Orzolek won both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles with times of 22.46 and 48.80. Madden set a personal record with his first place time of 2:07.28 in the 200-yard backstroke.
Lawrence set a personal record in the 100-yard individual medley with a winning time of 1:03.14.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Grove, Orzolek and seniors Bill Crumrine and David Miller finished the meet on a high note, as they won the event with their time of 3:23.89.
On the women’s side of the meet, the River Hawks scored 221 points to Marywood’s 58 and 182 points to Drew’s 89.
The River Hawks started on a fantastic note, coming in first and second in the 200-yard medley relay.
The team of senior Erin McElwee, junior Joann Butkus and sophomores Maggie Palaski and Katie Willis won the event with their time of 1:52.65, while the team of senior Lizzie Reichart, sophomore Megan Duck and freshmen Megan Shaffer and Morgan O’Hara finished second with the time of 1:57.42.
Freshmen Caitlin Kelly and Erin Wetmore set personal records in the 1000-yard freestyle with their first place time of 11:06.51 and second place time of 11:39.46 respectively.
Shaffer set a personal record in the 100-yard backstroke with a first place time of 1:02.31 while Butkus won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.96.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Wetmore and freshman Colleen Walsh took first with the time of 2:27.17 and second with the time of 2:29.38, respectively. Both times were personal records.
Willis won the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles with her times of 25.31 and 55.23.
Butkus, Duck and senior Paige Wagner took the top three spots in the 200-yard breaststroke with times of 2:31.72, 2:36.54 and 2:46.42, respectively.
Palaski won the 100-yard butterfly with her time of 1:01.63 while Butkus set a personal record in the 100-yard individual medley with her first-place time of 1:03.14.
Both the men and women’s teams get back in the pool on Nov. 12 when they travel to Gettysburg, where Messiah will also compete.
