Going in to the last week of dual meets before championships the Dickinson College men’s swim team faced a difficult line up against Gettysburg Wednesday, Feb. 6 at home and Saturday, Feb. 9 at Swarthmore. The men pushed to the end of each meet but fell 116-84 and 162-95 respectively. Although the final two meets ended in losses, the men put up a strong fight and swam to the best of their ability. There was a large amount of team support for each other and lent itself to a number of exciting and fast races for the men.  

When swimming against Gettysburg, the men found their first individual victory of the meet in event 10. Ben Shapiro ’19 won the 200 individual medley and began the trend. Kiernan Jordan ’19 followed in the next event with a victory in the 200 butterfly. Will Freeman ’20 and Shapiro went one, two in the 100 yard breaststroke. The men continued to cheer each other on until the end of the meet and support every one in each victory. The loss did not discourage the men and they tried to carry the momentum from Gettysburg over to Swarthmore.  

Swarthmore was a difficult competitor but that did not mean it was time to back down or shy away, instead it was time to step up and make a showing for the Red Devils and they did so the best they could. Jordan again won the 200 butterfly followed by Tyler Catania ’21 who came in second. Freeman took the 200 breaststroke. The meet then went into exhibition so the remainder of the points went to the men of Dickinson for the first, second and third place finishes.  

Logan Cort ’22 commented, “We had some really stiff competition and that really brought out some really great swims despite us all being really tired. Gettysburg and Swat also gave us a good idea of where we’re going at Champs.”

The men had an incredibly strong season, ending with a 7-5 record. We are excited to watch the men compete at championships. There should be a lot of fast swimming and high finishes at Gettysburg College from Feb. 21 to Feb. 24.