This post was written by Hatchet reporter Scott Nover.
With the head-to-head portion of the season reaching a conclusion, the Colonials looked forward to Saturday’s trip to the Jim McKay Natatorium with hopes of finding late success prior to the Atlantic 10 Championships.
Unfortunately for GW, the George Mason Patriots emerged victorious, winning 188-95 over the men and 162.5-123.5 over the women.
The women’s team, of late, has been highly productive, outperforming Georgetown 160.5-94.5 last weekend and taking first place at the Rhode Island Invitational in early January. The men’s team has continued to improve on personal times, succeeding in regard to head coach Dan Rhinehart’s main goals, but has continued to fall short as a team in competition.
The “conditioning and outright results have been outstanding all year long,” Rhinehart said, while emphasizing his continued satisfaction, following the meet, despite the point totals on the board.
The Colonials found little success initially, with George Mason taking the top two spots in the opening medley relays. Senior Caroline Myers, though, dominated the 1000-yard freestyle to give GW a big win early on.
In the 200-yard free, Myers was edged off by George Mason freshman Steff Maurer by a margin of 1:53.65 to 1:53.70. Freshman Lauren Law took a respectable third place finish in the event as well. Myers outraced her seven competitors in the 500-yard freestyle, winning with a dominant time of 5:02.13, while sophomore Madison Reinker took third in the same race.
The women’s duo of Remy Neville and Janica Lee gave GW their first one-two finish of the day, with 1:06.90 and 1:07.13 times to place first and second, respectively, in the 100-yard breastroke. The pair later built on its success, Lee finishing first in the 200-yard breaststroke as Neville placed third.
Other notable women’s performances came from junior Morgan Zebley, as she picked up top honors in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.41. Law’s time of 2:09.69 would earn her a second place finish in the women’s 200-yard individual medley.
The GW “B” squad, made up of Reinker, Law, and sophomores Lindsay Moore and Kally Vanderbilt, surprisngly won the 200-yard freestyle relay, with an impressive 12:28.88 finish.
Though initially slow in the pool, the Colonial men made noise towards the middle of competition, with junior transfer Goran Koprivnjak leading the way. Koprivnjak finished in front of the pack for the 100- and 200-yard butterfly races, while picking up a third place finish in the 200-yard individual medley. The Croatian-born swimmer has been consistently forceful in the pool for GW throughout the season.
Colonial freshman Liam Huffman turned heads as he took a resounding win over GMU’s Brandon Nestor, coming from behind to record a time of 4:43.17 over Nestor’s 4:43.41 in the 500-yard freestyle.
GW freshman Ben Fitch picked up a solid second place finish, with a 1:44.36 time in the men’s 200-yard freestyle before helping the Colonials secure a win in the final event – the 200-yard freestyle relay. The GW “A” squad – Fitch, junior Adam Rabe, sophomore Oliver Keegan, and freshman Bogdan Balteanu – defeated three separate Patriot teams with their 1:28.13 performance to conclude the day’s activities. Unfortunately, it was just too little too late for GW.
Learning how to rest, Rhinehart insisted, is the “biggest thing” from now until A-10’s.
“We take it from a level of high intensity training to where we start to learn how to rest so that their bodies can recover and they can be stronger and faster as we go into championships season,” said Rinehart, looking towards the next month.
The season has proved to be a lengthy, tiring journey, but the Colonials’ have persevered and are looking towards the opportunity of confronting conference foes in the most important races of the year.
With the George Mason meet and the regular season behind them, the Colonials training starts now.
Coach Rhinehart and his athletes will travel to compete at the A-10 Championships from February 19th to 22nd in Dayton, Ohio.
