Men’s and women’s swimming and diving swept the podium in more than half of GW’s races against Howard Saturday at the Smith Center.

The men defeated Howard 161–63, while the women won 159–72. The Colonials took first place in 20 of 22 races and captured the top-three places a combined 13 times. The meet marks GW’s third consecutive win over Howard in the first home dual meet of the season for the Colonials.

Head coach Brian Thomas – who is in his first year helming the program since James Winchester left in April to coach at TCU – said he expected the team to be relatively tired about nine weeks into the season, and used Saturday’s meet to test their performance level. The competition against Howard is the third dual meet for the Colonials this season.

“I don’t know if we have very many surprises, we’ve pretty much performed the way I expected,” he said. “Typically we’ll get a little fatigued, it ebbs and flows sometimes, but for the most part, we’re very good within our training.”

Senior Tommi Wolst, freshman Dylan Arzoni and junior Moritz Fath each claimed two first-place finishes in the meet to lead the men’s team.

Fath tied for first place with fellow Colonial senior Alexander Auster in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.08 while also leading the pool in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:36.61. Arzoni claimed the top spot in the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.89) and the 100-yard butterfly (50.89).

Wolst came away with first-place finishes in the 200-yard individual medley with a 1:54.04 split and the 100-yard backstroke with a finishing time of 51 seconds.

Sophomore diver Peter Nachtwey set a new program record in three-meter diving with a score of 387.23, besting the previous record he set in the same event last October by 24.6 points.

On the women’s side, the Colonials were paced by repeat winners juniors Gemma Atherley and Jackie Torrez.

Atherley won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:07.71 and the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:07.70. Torrez clinched the top spot in the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:54.53 split and swam a leg in the 200-yard medley relay to help GW to a first-place finish in the event.

Prior to the start of the meet, 14 seniors from the men’s and women’s teams were recognized as they kick off their final season on the team. On the men’s side, seniors Auster, Wolst, Jarrod Hendricks, Patrick Lersch, Josh Monacelli, Jake Ortiz, Austin Pyrch and Nicolas Reeves were recognized. On the women’s side, seniors Emily Zhang, Lucy Castro, Kelsey Oliver, Caroline Racke, Miranda Simon and Isobel Walker were honored as they begin their last year of eligibility.

“I think today was about our seniors more than anything and honoring them and maybe even reflecting a bit about where the program has come from in the last four years since they’ve been here,” Thomas said. “It’s been a significant ride, so that’s the big takeaway.”

Zhang took second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.04) and contributed to the 400-yard freestyle relay at the end of the meet, which did not place.

“It was a lot of emotions at once, which made the meet really fun,” Zhang said. “It’s weird that we’ve swum so many times in this pool and it’s one of our last times.”

Ortiz, a senior and diver on the men’s team, finished second in the one-meter diving and participated in a 400-yard freestyle relay to round out the meet.

He said the men’s last home meet was difficult because “the season is still very long and we have a long way to go.”

“Competing here for the last time was weird,” Ortiz said. “I’ve been training here every day for the past four years and it’s very sad but very exciting to move on to the next stage in my life.”

Wolst, a senior in his second year on the men’s team, said both the men and women have a “long way to go” in the season but they’re heading in the right direction. A key focus of the year is to “not be complacent” with the team’s performance in hopes of winning a championship, he said.

“We won back-to-back championships, we want to go for the three-peat and that starts every day at practice,” he said. “No excuses – we are happy but not satisfied.”

Both the men’s and women’s squad will compete at the Queens University Fall Frenzy in Charlotte, N.C. next weekend.