The West Chester swimming and diving team came into last weekends duo meet with John’s Hopkins and the College of New Jersey exactly how they had gone into the break: hot.Both the men’s and women’s teams ended the weekend on top, with the ladies overcoming John’s Hopkins by the slim margin of 184-174, and the men topping John Hopkins 221-137 and New Jersey 221-143.
The men ended the first day of competition ahead of both visiting teams. Matt Golebiewski was the men’s standout on the day, winning both the 200-yard freestyle and the 500 free, as well as taking part in the 800 free relay. West Chester took all three relay races on the day.
Max Bernardes also added a victory in the 400 individual medley.
Saturday, the second day of the meet, is where the Golden Rams were really able to pull away from the competition. Golebiewski added to his list of victories by winning the 100 and 50 free, while Bernardes won the 1650 free and 200 individual medley.
The divers also had an impressive meet, as Jon Brittian qualified for Nationals in both the one meter and three meter dives, both of which he won.
The women’s swimming and diving team did equally impressive last weekend. Their meet was only against John’s Hopkins University, but it proved to be an exciting match up. At the end of the first day of competition, West Chester trailed by 11 points.
The ladies almost took all three relays like the men did, but were inched out by .01 seconds in the 800 free relay. Contributing to the first day’s success were Danielle Ierley, winner of the 200 freestyle, Jillian Murphy, winner of the 100 backstroke, and Erin Fischer and Jackie Borkowski, each of whom took a runner up position.
The next day was a big one for the team, as they needed top finishes to come back. And that was just what they did. In the pool, Jackie Borkowski won the 200 individual medley and 200 backstroke, and the team won the 400 freestyle relay.
What played a huge factor in the win was the women’s performance on the diving board. Heather Varas and Dana DePaul both qualified for Nationals with their performance here, and helped bring the team back and to victory.
In the one meter dive, Varas took first place, with DePaul a close second. They decided to share the spotlight though, as Depaul took first in the three meter dive, with Varas coming in second there.
It was an exciting match up on the ladies side, with West Chester finally coming out on top. This duo victory keeps both the men and women’s swimming teams undefeated in dual meets this season. Next up for the swimming team is Southern Connecticut State University.
This will not be an easy match for the Golden Rams, as the Owls bring the same level of accomplishment to the meet. Southern Connecticut has won ten combined Northeast 10 championships since 2003, rivaling West Chester’s ten in a row by the men and two straight by the women.
Both teams have done extremely well in the NCAA tournament the past decade, with West Chester’s men taking third last year to So. Conn.’s seventh. This weekend will surely be no walk in the park for West Chester to continue their golden season.
The meet will take place next weekend, starting at 5 pm Friday night, and continuing at 10 am Saturday morning. West Chester will try to keep their perfect season going.
Ryan Frisco is a second-year student majoring in Communication studies with a minor in Journalism. He can be reached at RF648257@wcupa.edu.