The GW men’s and women’s swimming teams continued their successful fall season last weekend at the Potomac Valley Classic at American University with a first and a second-place finish
The women’s team took first place in the seven-team field, with 933 points, almost 400 more than second-place American. The men’s team came in second with a score of 657.5 points, finishing behind American (704 points).
The GW women placed first in 13 out of 17 total events. They were led by junior Jessica Skinner, who placed first on four separate occasions, the 200- (1:56.38), 500- (5:05.76), 1,000- (10:20.94) and 1,650-yard (17:17.69) freestyles. Freshman Jocelyn Finch also took first on multiple occasions, the 200-yard breaststroke (2:24.94) and the 200- (2:09.44) and 400-yard (4:36.11) medleys.
The women had a clean sweep in the 100-yard backstroke, as freshman Suzanne Grega, junior Rachel Smith and freshman Stephanie Huff placed first, second and third, respectively. Smith also won the 100-yard fly, taking first with a time of :58.44. In the 100-yard breaststroke, freshmen Nell Friar and Finch came in first and second, respectively. Sophomore Brandyn Roark took first in the 100-yard freestyle, an event in which GW had three of the top four finishers.
In the 200-yard relay medley, the women set a pool record with a time of 1:49.80, beating the previous time of 1:50.75 held by American since November 1993. GW also set a pool record in the 200-yard freestyle relay, beating the University of Miami’s time of 1:42.36 by more than two seconds.
The GW men were led by junior Tim Champney, who took first in the 100-yard backstroke (:50.63), the 200-yard backstroke (1:51.70) and the 50-yard freestyle (:21.07). In both backstroke events, Champney set a meet record and he set a pool record in the freestyle.
Sophomore Mike Cottone placed first in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:12.71, and the relay team took first in the 200-yard freestyle, also a pool record. Sophomore Alvaro Fortuny, senior Joe Lintott and junior Dave Simonetti all took second in their events The men also took second in the 200-yard relay medley.
