Both the men and women’s swim teams hosted Gettysburg and Swarthmore in the Kline Center this week. The women drew the lone win, defeating Swarthmore 110.5-94.5. However, the men’s team swam tough in both events, losing to Gettysburg 110-95 by 9/10 of a second on the final event. Saturday’s meet against Swarthmore was senior day and Caitlin Klockner ’16 made it a memorable one. She led the women to victory with wins in the 100 and 200 free and in the 200 individual medley.
In addition to Klocker, teammate Katie Nirenberg ‘16 was also honored and Alan Karickhoff ‘16 and Michael Lenker ‘16 represented the men. The four seniors have performed impressively for Coach Richards over their four years as Red Devils. Karickhoff holds part of the school record in 800 free relay from last year while Klockner holds an array of achievements including the best times in the 100 free and 200 individual medley.
In the men’s meet Wednesday, Mitchell Reynolds ‘18 shined in the long distance events. He earned gold in the 1000 and 500 free. Ben Shapiro ‘19 earned first-place points in the 200 individual medley while Sam Eaton and Kiernan Jordan ‘19 did the same in the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly. On Saturday, Reynolds again won the 100 free, but finished second in the 500. However, Alex Bennett ‘17 picked up those points with a win in the 500 free. Shapiro, Eaton and Jordan all picked up wins again in the 200 medley, breaststroke and backstroke.
The young talent shined this week for the women’s team as first-years Olivia Lyman, Sam Boswell and Katie Schmidt all picked up multiple wins during the two meets. Lyman dominated the distance events in both meets. After winning the 1000 and 500 free events against Gettysburg, she did it again and added a win in the 200 free against Swarthmore.
Boswell didn’t make gold against Gettysburg, finishing with three second-place finishes, but earned gold twice against Swarthmore in the 50 free and as part of the winning 200 free relay. Schmidt won the backstroke in both meets while also anchoring the winning relay. Emily Houser also swam on the winning relay squad. The last member of the relay team was Klockner, who finished with three wins to cap off her senior day.
The teams will next compete two weekends from now as they take part in the Centennial Conference Championships from Feb. 19-21 at Gettysburg College. Last year the men took fifth and the women fourth.