Swimming ends regular season on good note; Gymnastics shows improvement.The week started off with a bang for the men’s and women’s swim teams as a member from each was named as the ECAC athlete of the week.
On the men’s side, Ben Kuntz received the honors, marking his third weekly award this year! Not only did he receive this honor for breaking the school and conference record for his time in the 200-yard butterfly, but was also awarded the PSAC swimmer of the week in addition to recognition from CollegeSwimming.com.
Receiving honors for the ladies’ team was Heather Varas, being named the ECAC female diver of the week. She took first in the three meter competition, qualifying her for nationals, while scoring a second place finish in the one meter dive.
Both squads had a tough match against Penn, both losing by a considerable amount, but would come back to redeem themselves in the regular season finale Saturday afternoon against conference rival Bloomsburg.
The women’s team rolled over the Huskies, taking eight of 11 events and scoring a 133-72 victory to impress the crowd that showed up to celebrate the seniors on the team.
Sophomore Jackie Borkowski took the 500 and 1000 yard freestyle, both with ease. Megan Bauer and Kristen Montello finished second and third, respectively.
It was virtually the same story for the men’s swimming team as they too entertained the senior day crowd to a victory over rival Bloomsburg, 106-85.
The third year Dan Casey matched Borkowski by taking two events himself in the 50 and 100 yard freestyle. The Rams were unstoppable, dominating the majority of the events, and making it impossible for the opponent to overcome the deficit.
Now the Golden Rams have a three week break to rest up before the PSAC swimming championships February 21-24. These will take place in Mechanicsburg, PA. The men will be making a run at their tenth straight title while the women are going for their second in a row.
The gymnastics team had a busy week with two separate five team meets. The first took place at Brown University where the Rams ended up with the fifth highest score.
Jenna Ciatto stood out, as she took tenth in the all around competition. Stephanie Clark took twelfth and Colleen Sheehan thirteenth. Alyssa Driscoll took twentieth in the floor exercises.
Saturday, the girls traveled to Temple for another meet, this time taking fourth, ahead of Wilson College. Ciatto again scored the high score for the team in the all around.
The next meet for the team is at the University of Pennsylvania next Saturday evening.
Ryan Frisco is a first-year student majoring in communication studies. He can be reached at RF648257@wcupa.edu.