For the first time in school history, both Rensselaer swimming and diving teams went undefeated in dual meet competition. Both squads, which are coached by Shannon O’Brien, improved to 7-0 with victories over Hamilton College Jan. 30, with the women winning 179-121 and the men 191-109. The men also won both invitationals in which they competed, capturing the Liberty League Championship and the Kumpf Invitational. The women were second in both the league meet and the Kumpf Invitational.
Women’s Victory
At Hamilton, six different women won multiple events, including three who won three each. The meet started with the women’s 200 medley relay, which saw the Rensselaer team of Amanda Wang, Siena Sara, Shanny Lin, and Jessica Sauve win in 1:52.03. Wang went on to win the 100 (59.30) and 200 (2:08.06) backstroke and finish second to Lin in the 100 butterfly.
The 100 butterfly victory for Lin, which came in 59.73, followed an individual victory in the 200 fly (2:08.85). She also swam on the second place 400 free relay team (3:42.78). Sara went on to win the 100 breaststroke (1:09.62) and 200 breaststroke (2:29.73) and finish second to Sauve (4:44.63) in the 400 individual medley (4:47.34). Sauve’s twin sister, Danielle, also had a pair of wins, capturing the 200 free (1:56.76) and 500 free (5:17.41) and two runner-ups.
Senior Maddie Miller was victorious off both diving boards, winning off the 1-meter with a score of 250.94 and the 3-meter with 264.67 points.
Men’s Victory
The men’s team had nine who had first-place finishes, five of whom had multiple victories. Freshman Stuart Stritzel led the way, winning four events: 200 medley relay (1:38.16), 50 free (22.06), 100 free (49.09), and 400 free relay (3:15.18). He was joined on the 200 medley team by Noah Pan, Richard Dong, and A.J. Schick. Pan went on to touch first in the 100 back (54.27) and 200 back (1:59.13), while Dong won the 100 (1:00.43) and 200 (2:13.40) breaststroke. Dong also had a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly (54.54).
Freshman Dan Hendricks also had multiple victories, winning the 1,000 freestyle (10:06.74) and the 500 free (4:54.14). He also placed second in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:16.92.
The Engineers swimmers are idle until Feb. 17 when they compete in the four-day New York State Championships in Ithaca, N.Y.