Hard work pays off.
The men's and women's swimming and diving teams proved that this weekend as they defeated St. Bonaventure and MAC-rival Bowling Green.
The men's team (6-1, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) is on a five-meet winning streak, and the women's team (8-2, 4-2 MAC) earned its seventh-consecutive win. The men's team kicked it into high gear to capture a 131-110 final against the Bonnies (4-4). The women cruised to a 125.5-93.5 win in its meet against St. Bonaventure (1-8) and knocked off Bowling Green (1-5) on Saturday 154-114.
Head coach Andy Bashor believes this success is the result of early preparation at the start of the season.
'They really worked hard at the beginning of the year, and I think now they are seeing the pay off,' Basher said. 'We're just coming around at the right time. This is when we need to start swimming a little bit better [and] race a little bit faster.'
Senior swimmer Connor Vander Zalm and freshman Matt Schwippert anchored the men's team with two first-place finishes apiece.
Vander Zalm dominated in the distance events, taking the 500 and 1000-meter freestyle events with times of 4:44.03 and 9:57.29, respectively.
Schwippert set his personal best and the Reilly Center pool record in the 200-meter IM with a time of 1:56.02. He also came in first in the 200-meter backstroke (1:52.03).
In addition, sophomore swimmer Chris Berloth won the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:56.13. Junior diver Kenny Rhoades clinched a first-place finish on the three-meter board with a score of 285.00.
The women performed well at the onset and never looked back.
Junior swimmer Alisa Koopman started the night with a win in the 1000-meter freestyle. Freshman swimmer Caroline Simmons won the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:56.39. Senior swimmer Sam Palma tied SBU's Allison Smith for first-place in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 24.98.
Other first-place finishes came from junior Jordan Deren in the 200 butterfly (2:10.52), junior Jessie Koltz in the 100 freestyle (53.44), and sophomore Alison Schirmers in the 500-meter freestyle (5:10.10).
Senior diver Meili Carpenter finished with a record-breaking dive. Scoring 330.75 on the one-meter board, Carpenter broke her own record and set a new school record in the process.
