The Panther swimming and diving teams capped off the first semester by hosting a dual meet on Saturday against Springfield. The men recorded 13 event victories and cruised by a 197-69 score for their first win of the season, while the women fell by a narrow 152-148 tally to the #23 Pride. The Panthers take a break for the holidays before returning to action on Saturday, January 9, when they travel to Colby for a dual meet starting at 1:00 p.m.
On the men's side, Michael McGean picked up a pair of individual victories for the Panthers, touching the wall first in both the 500 free (4:45.61) and 1000 free (9:43.60).
Individual event winners in the pool were Jack Dowling in the 200 free (1:49.78),Justin Cho in the 50 back (25.66), Stephan Koenigsberger during the 50 breaststroke (27.23), Alex Smith in the 100 fly (55.13) and Paul Lagasse in the 50 free (22.15). Other titles came from Jack McLaughlin in the 100 free (48.72), Brendan Leech, who beat the field home in the 100 back (55.11), while Bryan Cheukstopped the clock with a winning time of 23.86 in the 50 fly.
During the meet's first event, the quartet of Leech, Koenigsberger, Cheuk and Lagasse posted a winning time of 1:37.57 in the 200 medley relay.
On the diving board, Will Greene claimed victories with the highest point totals in both the 1-meter (210.90) and the 3-meter competitions (240.75).
During women's action in the day's opening relay, the 200 medley team of Isabel Wyer, Liza MacCowatt, Megan Griffin and Morgan Burke were victorious with a time of 1:49.96.
A duo of Panthers tallied two individual wins apiece. Wyer was victorious in both the 100 free (53.75) and 200 free (1:55.61), while Sarah Bartholomae stopped the clock first in the 50 back (28.85) and 100 back (1:02.19). Additional winners were Griffin in the 50 free (25.39) and Grace Stimson in the 400 individual medley (4:44.23).
The women's meet came down to the final event of the afternoon. With the Panthers clinging to a 144-141 lead in the team scores going into the 200 free relay, the Springfield quartet won the event for 11 team points with a time of 1:39.49. That time narrowly edged the Middlebury team consisting of Burke, Griffin, Stephanie Andrews and Wyer, who touched the wall in 1:39.64.
