Swimcloud

Lehigh Sweeps Colgate, NJIT

The Lehigh men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams turned in three solid performances to sweep Colgate and the New Jersey Institute of Technology at Jacobs Pool on Saturday. The Lehigh women topped Colgate 146-68, while the men topped the Raiders 141-86, and NJIT 138-80. The victory was the fourth win in a row for the women, who move to 4-1 (1-1 Patriot) on the season, while the men improve to 3-3 (1-1 Patriot).
 
Junior Cora Summerfield registered the first individual win for Lehigh on the afternoon in the 1,000 yard freestyle, pacing the field in 10:35.58. Her teammate, senior Courtney Patterson, touched the wall just under three seconds later for a second place finish of 10:38.36.
 
Junior Kaitlyn Ruffing then captured one of her two wins on the day, finishing the 50 yard freestyle with a top time of 23.69. She later made it a sweep of the sprint events with a 51.20 time in the 100 freestyle. The 100 free saw the Mountain Hawks sweep the top three spots as Carolyn Koch took home second place (53.16), just .20 seconds ahead of teammate Courtney Ferreira (53.36).
 
Sophomore Sydney Bornstein led the way in the 200 yard butterfly, pacing the field in 2:05.81. Freshman Kate Bergin (2:08.83) and sophomore Rachel Rider (2:09.12) placed first and second, respectively in the 200 yard backstroke.
 
Patterson (5:11.25) then added a win to her credit in the 500 yard freestyle, out-touching Summefield, who came in second with a time of 5:15.82.
 
Making her collegiate diving debut, sophomore Megan Schappert turned in a solid performance on the one-meter board, winning the event with a score of 122.25.
 
“In three days, she got six of the dives,” head coach Rob Herb said of Schappert. “When you don’t have anybody and you need those points, you need someone to step up like that. She did the dives very well. She’s obviously an athlete.”
 
Junior Jacob Moyar led the way on the men’s side, winning all three individual events he competed in. He won the 200 free in 1:42.06, the 200 IM in 1:56.03 and the 200 fly in 1:53.77. Senior Jake Hassel captured second place in the 200 free, touching the wall in 1:46.40. Sophomore Jimmy Davey also landed in the top three of the 200 IM (2:00.87).
 
Juniors Jamal Willis and Justin White went one-two in the 50 yard freestyle sprint, where Willis outpaced the field in 21.06, just ahead of White, who finished in 21.14. White kept the momentum going in the 100 free, winning the race in 46.18.
 
Freshman Jason Ewart took home the win in the 200 backstroke (1:54.94), and Hassel tallied the win in the 500 freestyle (4:49.00).
 
The men’s 400 yard relay team of Ewart, Hassel, sophomore Zack Tieke and Willis took home the top spot with a time of 3:33.66. The women’s team made it a clean sweep of the event, Bergin, senior Melissa Feeney, junior Kelly Carroll and Ruffing captured the top time of 3:56.58.
 
The Mountain Hawks capped off the day in the same manner in which it began- with a pair of wins in relay events. The women’s 800 yard freestyle relay team of Carroll, Koch, Ferreira and sophomore Julia Perry turned in a winning time of 7:48.51. The men’s team of White, Ewart, freshman Ryan Morgan and freshman Tristan Stritzel then combined for a winning time of 7:08.89.
 
“We definitely had some amazing performances by the regulars, but we also had some step-up performances from some of the younger swimmers,” head coach Rob Herb said. “Courtney Ferreira was second in the 200 freestyle, and only by a little bit, and that girl is one of the tops in the Patriot League.
 
“With the men, we did put some people all over the place and fund that we have some additional talent in places that we don’t normally get to see,” Herb added.
 
Lehigh next returns to the pool in three weeks, when the Mountain Hawks travel to take on Lafayette in Easton, Pa. on Friday, November 20.

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