Sophomore Matt Walchuck (Middletown, Md./Middletown) won twice as St. Mary's College of Maryland men's swimming returned to Capital Athletic Conference action Saturday afternoon against the University of Mary Washington. Mary Washington (6-2, 3-0 CAC) topped the Seahawks (5-8, 2-2 CAC) by a 140-64 margin.
Walchuck captured a pair of freestyle events as he captured the 100 and 200 distances. Walchuck bested Mary Washington's Tyler Gimple by .43 hundredths of a second for gold in the 200 free with a time of 1:47.46. He then beat Matthew Garstka by .25 hundredths of a second for first place in the 100 free, touching the wall first in 49.41.
Junior Grant Burgess (Fallston, Md./Fallston) battled for second in the 500 freestyle as Burgess out-touched Chris Cassingham by one-hundredth of a second for the win in 4:56.93. Walchuck picked up a second-place finish in the 200 breaststroke in 2:20.55 while first-year Kieran Broder (Olney, Md./Georgetown Prep) came in third in 2:21.91.
Senior captain Bobby Witkop (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) finished second in the 200 butterfly in 2:05.39 while the foursome of junior Michael Speer (Springfield, Va./West Springfield), Witkop, sophomore Andrew Braker (Olney, Md./Sherwood), and junior Zach Lilley (Myersville, Md./Middletown) claimed second in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:32.29.
The Seahawks posted a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay in 1:44.08 behind the efforts of Lilley, Broder, Burgess, and Braker. First-year Max Madden (Cape St. Clair, Md./Broadneck) added a third-place finish in the 1000 freestyle in 10:39.98 while sophomore Andrew Braun (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) placed fourth in 11:06.54.
Burgess notched a third-place finish in the 400 individual medley in 4:28.15 while Lilley tallied a fourth-place finish in the 200 backstroke in 2:09.42. First-year Lucas Delgado (Bowie, Md./Gonzaga) paced St. Mary's in the 50 freestyle with a fifth-place finish in 23.50.
St. Mary's returns to the pool next Saturday, January 24th as the Seahawks travel to the Eastern Shore to wrap up the conference regular season with a dual meet at Salisbury University. Meet begins at 1:00 p.m.
Junior Cara Machlin (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson) picked up two gold medals as St. Mary's College of Maryland women's swimming took on the University of Mary Washington Saturday afternoon. Mary Washington (6-2, 3-0 CAC) posted a 131-74 Capital Athletic Conference win over the Seahawks (10-3, 3-1 CAC).
Machlin gathered victories in the 1,000 and 500 freestyle events for St. Mary's while senior captain Brooke Raab (Parkton, Md./Hereford) tallied a win in the 200 butterfly.
Machlin bested Mary Washington's Maddie Carinci by over seven seconds in the 1,000 free as she touched the wall in 11:07.11 and then beat Carinci once again in the 500 free by over six seconds with a time of 5:27.32. Junior Zoe McIlmail (Frederick, Md./Urbana) garnered a third-place finish in the 500 free in 5:36.63 to help the Seahawks notch 12 points in the event.
Raab edged Megan Murphy by 1.04 for first in the 200 fly, grabbing top honors with a time of 2:15.04 while first-year Rachel Sonnenberg (Derwood, Md./Magruder) snagged a third-place finish in 2:24.62.
The foursome of senior Hannah Hafey (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley), Raab, Machlin, and first-year Elizabeth Straathof (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) placed second in the 200 medley relay in 1:52.83, just .33 hundredths of a second behind Mary Washington's A-relay.
Hafey finished second in the 50 freestyle in 25.90 and then added another second-place finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:15.28.
McIlmail landed a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle in 2:02.27 followed by Straathof in fourth in 2:02.39 and Sonnenberg in fifth in 2:09.19.
St. Mary's had another 3-4-5 finish in the 400 individual medley as junior Elaina Kohles (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll) took third in 5:00.20, senior captain Kelsey Abernathy (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) came in fourth (5:04.61) and junior Karlie Straight (Ocean City, Md./Stephen Decatur) was fifth in 5:10.87.
Straathof paced the Seahawks in the 100 freestyle with a third-place finish in 56.48 while Kohles went fourth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:36.46. St. Mary's collected a fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:50.88 as junior Katie Andersen (Clarksville, Md./River Hill), Sonnenberg, Straight, and Abernathy swam on the relay.
St. Mary's returns to the pool next Saturday, January 24th as the Seahawks travel to the Eastern Shore to wrap up the conference regular season with a dual meet at Salisbury University. Meet begins at 1:00 p.m.
