How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
The women's swimming and diving team's quest for a perfect season came to an end last Saturday. The team lost to The College of New Jersey by a score of 161-137. The men's team also fell to TCNJ, losing by a score of 179-116. The Violets were ranked nineteenth in the latest College Swim Coaches Association of America Division III Poll heading into the meet.
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Despite the loss, the Violets (7-1), still have high expectations for next week's meet at Vassar College, and for the UAA Championships that will take place from Feb. 17-20.
"I think a loss is always good in that it really is humbling," sophomore Molly Rippe said. "[It's] a reminder of both the level of competition that we will be facing ... and the fact that we have to continue working hard."
Rippe had a successful day in the pool. She grabbed first-place honors in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:09.52) and second place in the 500-yard freestyle (5:18.24).
Other first-place finishes included junior Chelsea Pfohl in the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.84) and sophomore Kristen Fujii in the 200-yard individual medley (2:15.02).
"It was a good learning experience for us," head coach Lauren Beam said. "TCNJ was a better team, and that's how it goes sometimes."
Sophomore Kelly Dietz continued her success on the diving board with victories in the one-meter (256.13) and three-meter (288.50) dives.
On the men's side, the loss dropped the team's record to 6-4.
Senior Eric Pcholinski swam to victory in the 100-yard freestyle (47.31) and the 50-yard freestyle (21.74), in a meet featuring only a few NYU first place finishes.
Sophomore Bryson Naylor added a second place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:13.91) and a third place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.34). Fellow sophomore James Bedell grabbed second and third-place finishes in the 100-yard butterfly (53.48) and 100-yard freestyle (48.59) respectively.
Junior diver Max Norris posted victories in both diving events with a score of 274.73 in the one-meter, and an NCAA-qualifying score of 312.61 in the three-meter.
The men and women's swimming and diving teams will be back in action next week on Saturday, Jan. 30, when they travel to Vassar College to swim in their final dual-meet of the season.
