Saint Michael's recently won its first meet of the swimming and diving season.
Confusing title so let me go into more detail to help you all out.
For us seniors, this was yet another last first this past weekend. Our last first meet, which was held at Colby Sawyer College in New Lebanon, N.H. was this past Saturday. Having trained extremely hard in the pool and with Crossfit the past six weeks, we were excited to bring home our first win. And hoping (but really knowing…) that it won’t be our last victory brought back up to Vermont.
The seniors, having this be a little bittersweet of a meet, were still able to pull out some unbelievable swims. Highlighting those seniors on the men’s side include Michael Sprague capturing wins in both distance events, the 500 and 1.000 freestyle, and Dan Healy dominating in the 50 and 100 backstrokes. On the women’s side, Eileen Mullowney and myself, Kaytlyn Kelley, won both of our individual events. Mullowney in the 100 and 200 freestyle and myself in he 50 and 100 backstroke, while Sammy Sweeney brought back a victory in the 200 butterfly.
Although the seniors were hoping to leave our mark behind in our last meet at Colby Sawyer, we wouldn’t have brought home a win without our underclassmen. The freshmen stepped up to the pressure of their first college meet and blew all of us out of the water with how well they did. No pun intended. Wins for the first years included Aidan Meehan and Nathan Paluso in both of their individual events and Matt Pearson in the 50 breastroke. Our first-year diver, Matthew Annenberg, captured wins in both diving events, setting a new pool-record for his 6 dives.
Most noteworthy, however, were the dominating relay teams we had. Between the men’s and the women’s teams, our A relays won all four relay events. For the men, this included senior Healy, sophomore Jack Mullderig, and freshmen Paluso and Meehan in the 200 medley, and Healy, Paluso, Meehan, and junior Kyle Esposito in the 200 free. For the women’s triumphs, we were ecstatic to have our Dream Team swim together for the first time. After one shattered elbow and two of us studying abroad last year, we finally swam a relay all together for both events, involving seniors Mullowney, Sweeney, and myself, and sophomore Julie Mullowney.
Even though we are into our 7th week of training, our season is still just beginning. With one win under our belt, we are confident and motivated to have a great season. The next couple weeks before Thanksgiving will be busy with 3 meets coming up before we head home for food and relaxation.
Our next meet is this Saturday vs. Clarkson at home. Come check us out and cheer us on!
