Swimming defeats Clarion

The men’s swimming and diving team out performed Clarion University Saturday by winning the meet for the fourth straight year with a score of 153–147. The women’s team lost in a close race 154–145 to Clarion by a tight margin of 11 points, despite outstanding performances by much of the team.

For the women, sophomore Molly Evans came in first place for both backstroke events and set a new career best in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 0:57.99 on top of a win. The Tartans also took the top two places in the 200-yard butterfly, with first-year Hannah Gonzalez taking first with a time of 2:12.45 and sophomore Rebecca Ussai in a close second. First-year Victoria Adams took two wins in the 1000-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle with times of 11:02.30 and 5:24.96, while senior Allison Retotar clinched the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:59.55. Representing the divers, senior Charlotte Jennings grabbed second place on the one-meter board with a total of 214.20 points.

On the men’s side, senior Ron Papa swam well with wins in the 200-yard backstroke and helped the Tartans sweep the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:59.50, ahead of teammates sophomore Alex Hanson and junior Andrew Seo. In the 100-yard butterfly, the Tartans took second and third place with sophomore Travis Piper (0:54.97), senior Stephen Vu, and sophomore Justin Whaley tying for third (0:55.47). The 200-yard breaststroke event also yielded great results for the Tartans, who took second, third, and fourth with Seo coming in second with a time of 2:12.27. Junior Jason Huber won the 100-yard breaststroke event with a time of 0:59.75. The Tartans also swept the 200-yard butterfly event, led by Whaley, who snatched first place (2:01.13). Sophomore Jonas Altman-Kurosaki finished next in 2:01.79 and junior Andrew Weitz third with a 2:04.11.

Helping the Tartan victory was senior Tom McConnell, who beat Altman-Kurosaki by a mere 0.40 seconds in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:45.00. Altman-Kurosaki also did well in the 1000-yard freestyle by taking first with 9:46.87.

The Tartans’ next event will be in two weeks at the Franklin and Marshall Quad Meet.