George Washington Press Release
WASHINGTON - The George Washington women's swimming and diving team defeated Revolutionary Rival George Mason, 166-132, in dual-meet competition for the first time since 2001 on Saturday in the Colonials' Senior Day meet at the Charles E. Smith Center Pool.
The Buff and Blue triumphed in 12 events on Saturday, with four different Colonials tallying multiple individual wins, led by three solo victories by freshman Jackie Torrez.
"We knew coming into today that this was going to be a close meet and our women came out and got it done," said head coach James Winchester. "With a quick turnaround after yesterday's meet, we did a great job of keeping our energy up and putting together some great swims right from the beginning. I'm very pleased that we were able to come away with a big win against a tough George Mason team on Senior Day."
Sophomore diver Miranda Simon won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, posting her second NCAA Zones qualifying mark of the season with a personal best score of 273.83 on the 1-meter boards, just shy of the program record of 278.20. Rookie Gillian Chowske placed second in that event with a personal best of 255.88. Simon went on to win the 3-meter with 271.13 points.
"Miranda has been putting in some overtime work on the boards and in strength and conditioning. She seems to make improvements every day that has led her to today's NCAA Zone qualification on 1-meter," said head diving coach Anthony Crowder. "She has shown a lot of growth this season and as we head into the next training phase she will be cleaning everything up in preparation for a great showing at the A-10 meet and her first NCAA Zone meet this March. Gillian has come a long way since she first walked onto the pool deck in September. Setting new PRs at nearly every meet we go to, she continued the trend with a new PR on 1-meter today and is setting herself up nicely for a great showing at the A-10 meet."
Torrez grabbed her first victory in the 200-yard butterfly, touching the wall in 2:05.61 before winning the 200 breaststroke in 2:22.45. Torrez notched her final triumph in the 400 IM (4:30.60) ahead of sophomore Emily Zhang in second (4:34.24). Torrez added a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay alongside sophomore Isobel Walker, senior Lauren Law and freshman Lynn Zhang (1:50.96). The team of freshmen Alli Lapps, Courtney Coghill, Sydney Melnick and sophomore Caroline Racke took third in that event (152.78).
Senior Selin Ozturk wrapped a strong weekend of competition with a pair of individual wins against Mason. Ozturk began her day with a victory in the 200 free (1:53.36) ahead of Emily Zhang in second (1:53.51). The senior went on to win the 500 free in 5:06.42, while sophomore Lucy Castrotook second in 5:16.01. Ozturk joined forces with freshman Gemma Atherley, junior Abigail Fuscoand sophomore Emily Zhang to close the meet with a win in the 200 free relay (1:36.90) ahead of freshman Lynn Zhang, Walker, Melnick and freshman Emily Hample in third (1:40.96).
Fusco also excelled in the pool, leading a GW sweep in the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.69 as Atherley placed second (58.86) and Walker took third (1:00.25). Fusco later won the 100 fly in 58.20 and added a second-place effort in the 50 free (24.43) to wrap her successful day.
Castro and Atherley rounded out GW's victories, winning the 1,000 free (10:30.39) and the 200 back (2:04.69), respectively.
Emily Zhang added a second-place finish in the 100 free (52.31) to wrap Saturday's best performances.
Saturday marked the first time that both GW's men's and women's squads defeated George Mason in dual-meet action since Jan. 27, 2001.
The Colonials conclude the regular season on Saturday, Jan. 21, at Old Dominion. GW will compete at the 2017 Atlantic 10 Championships from Feb. 15-18in Geneva, Ohio.
WASHINGTON - The George Washington men's swimming and diving team defeated Revolutionary Rival George Mason, 179-114, for the first time in dual-meet competition since 2007 on Saturday in the Colonials' Senior Day meet at the Charles E. Smith Center Pool.
Sophomore diver Jake Ortiz snapped GW's program records on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards with two NCAA Zone qualifying scores to highlight the Buff and Blue's 14 victories out of 16 events. Four additional Colonials tallied multiple individual victories.
"I was really proud of our effort today," said head coach James Winchester. "To perform the way we did and maintain such high energy less than 24 hours after yesterday's meet was impressive. We had tremendous support at the pool today, and I'm very pleased that we were able to come away with a big win against a tough George Mason team on Senior Day."
Ortiz posted a score of 325.05 in the 1-meter event to shatter the previous program record of 308.85 set in 2001, taking first and marking the first NCAA Zones qualifying score of his young career. Ortiz went on to win the 3-meter event with a score of 332.40, besting the previous GW mark of 327.30 that had stood since 1991. The sophomore's 3-meter score is also an NCAA Zones qualifier.
"Jake has made a lot of great progress this season and I'm really happy with where his dives are at at this point, but he still has room to grow and improve," said head diving coach Anthony Crowder. "The next phase will be to clean up some of the dives to put up even better scores come time for the A-10 Championships."
Junior Gustav Hokfelt had a hand in four victories for GW on Saturday, leading the way on two event sweeps for the Colonials. Hokfelt won the 100-yard backstroke in 50.10 ahead of freshman Andrew Cho (51.43) and sophomore Nicolas Reeves (54.32). Hokfelt later won the 200 back in 1:51.96 as Reeves took second (1:58.19) and Cho grabbed third (1:59.35). Hokfelt joined forces with senior Andrea Bolognesi, freshman Emils Pone and sophomore Alexander Auster to win the 200 medley relay (1:33.72) ahead of the team of Cho, seniors Bogdan Baltean and Ben Fitch and junior Adam Drury (1:35.68). Hokfelt later helped close the meet with a triumph, teaming up with Auster, Drury and freshman Max Forstenhaeusler to win the 200 free relay (1:24.89) ahead of freshman Alex Cronin, juniors Jarvus Pennington and Aneil Srivastava and sophomore Patrick Lersch in second (1:27.74).
Bolognesi added a pair of individual wins of his own, first in the 100 breaststroke (57.41) as Balteanu took third (59.13). Bolognesi went on to touch the wall first in the 100 butterfly (50.73) ahead of Forstenhaeusler in third (52.07).
Forstenhaeusler added two solo wins to his day, first leading a GW sweep in the 200 free (1:42.38) followed by Drury in second (1:44.42) and Cronin in third (1:44.72). Forstenhaeusler later won the 100 free in yet another podium-sweeping race with a time of 46.58. Auster took second in the event (47.78) while Cho placed third (48.02).
Freshman Moritz Fath was the final Colonial to win multiple solo events on the day, winning the 1,650 free in 16:03.95 before triumphing in the 500 free (4:40.52) ahead of Cronin in third (4:44.53). Fath wrapped his day with a third-place finish in the 400 IM (4:11.54).
Auster and sophomore Josh Monacelli rounded out GW's top performances on the day; Auster winning 50 free in 21.31 and Monacelli taking first in the 200 breast in 2:08.39. Monacelli added a second-place effort in the 200 fly in 1:57.11 ahead of Cronin (1:57.79).
Saturday marked the first time that both GW's men's and women's squads defeated George Mason in dual-meet action since Jan. 27, 2001.
