SEVERAL PRIDE SWIMMERS TAKE FIRST PLACE FINISHES IN UNE MEET
The Regis College men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams hosted the University of New England for a meet on Saturday afternoon at the Regis pool. The men’s team handed the visitors a 109-98 loss, while the women’s team fell 151-111.
WESTON, Mass. – The Regis College men's and women's swimming and diving teams hosted the University of New England for a meet on Saturday afternoon at the Regis pool. The men's team handed the visitors a 109-98 loss, while the women's team fell 151-111. Both the men's and women's team saw strong individual performances by its team members.
On the men's side, Alex Graf (Newton, Mass.), Stephen McGovern (Dorchester, Mass.), Nick Yerzyk (West Hills, Calif.), and Andy LaForest (Roslindale, Mass.) all had multiple first place finishes to lead the Pride. The four team members even teamed up to take first place in the 200 Yard Medley Relay with a time of 1:46.28.
Graf took first place in the 100 Yard Freestyle and 100 Yard Individual Medley with times of 50.75 and 59.67, respectively. McGovern posted times of 29.34 and 1:06.48 in the 50 Yard Breaststroke and 100 Yard Breaststroke, respectively, which were both good for first place.
Yerzyk finished in the number one spot in both the 50 Yard Backstroke (26.53) and 50 Yard Freestyle (23.12), while also coming in second place in the 100 Yard Backstroke with a time of 59.87. LaForest came away with a win in the 50 Yard Butterfly with a time of 25.07 and placed second in the 100 Yard Butterfly (59.92).
Freshmen Brenna Melanson (Reading, Mass.) and Svetlana Loranger (East Freetown, Mass.) had strong performances on the women's side. Melanson took first in the 100 Yard Freestyle, 100 Yard Individual Medley, and the 200 Yard Freestyle, with times of 56.09, 1:05.48, and 2:01.40, respectively. Loranger won the 50 Yard Backstroke with a time of 31.60, and also won the 50 Yard Freestyle (26.79) and 50 Yard Butterfly (28.53).
Melanson and Loranger also teamed up with Shannon O'Neil (Lowell, Mass.) and Lucia Liorente (Newton, Mass.) to take first place in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:46.48.
When asked about the meet, Coach Sweeney said, "Being our first home meet and first dual meet of the season, we did extremely well. We had season best times from last weekend and from our practice times at 88%. The swimmers have continued to work extremely hard and have continued to show rapid improvement. We had some great races throughout the meet."
"Compared to last year, the women lost by over 50 points but UNE also exhibitioned the last several events, so for the women's team we have made great strides with not only our overall improvement but also in our racing. The men's team did a tremendous job, with only 6 boys swimming this meet, they really stepped up as they needed to. The men's meet came down to the last relay which we handily won. I am looking forward to another hard week of practices."
Both the men's and women's team will be back in action next Saturday, November 3 for a 12:00 p.m. meet with Bridgewater State.