GRIMES LEADS WOMEN TO VICTORY,

MEN FALL IN MEET AGAINST RIT

Nov. 10: First-year Hannah Grimes had two individual first place finishes, leading the St. Lawrence women’s swim team to a win over RIT, 130-90, in the Frank and Lee Augsbury Natatorium on Saturday afternoon. The men fell to the Tigers, 70-167.

The breaststroker from Hamden, CT swam in the outside lane of the 200-yard IM race came from behind after the fly leg to take a surprising slight lead in the backstroke over the rest of the field. Grimes’ breaststroke leg sealed the deal for the win, as she finished the leg more than a body length ahead and was able to maintain the lead in the last 50, touching at 2:22.12. First-year Cassie Dudar came in second with a 2:26.88, a second and a half ahead of RIT’s Claire Eckstrom.

Grimes’ second win came in her specialty stroke, the 200-yard breaststroke, where her lead grew with every lap of the eight-length race, finishing in a time of 2:34.88. Junior Devan Meserve competed for second place with Tigers’ Coleen Davis and was able to touch her out, finishing with a 2:49.00.

In addition to her individual victories, Grimes also swam the breaststroke leg of the Saints’ winning 200-yard medley relay, which also included senior captain Kim Watcke, sophomore Abbey Lynch, and junior Ashley Bogosian. The relay clocked in at 1:54.22, while St. Lawrence’s ‘B’ relay, which included sophomore Emily Baron, junior Meaghan Vaughn, and first-years Alden Bush and Katy Kozminski, finished second with a 2:03.78.

Watcke took a win in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing with a 2:17.00, while Dudar swam to her second 2 nd place finish of the day after another battle between herself and RIT’s Eckstrom. The Cheshire, CT backstroker also was a member of the winning 200-yard freestyle relay, which included Lynch, Kozminski, and first-year Megan Derby. The relay won by three-quarters of a body length, touching at 1:43.54.

Lynch also had an impressive day for the Saints. In addition to her two relay wins, the Norwood, NY native led the Saints to a 1-2-3 finish in the 100-yard freestyle, winning the race in a 56.03. Only five-hundredths of a second separated second and third place, with Bogosian coming in just ahead of Derby with a time of 57.11. Derby touched at 57.16 to secure the Saints’ sweep.

Bogosian continued her winning streak in the 50-yard freestyle, coming in at 25.83. Kozminski finished the race with a 26.40 to place third just behind RIT’s Kristen Curtze, who touched with a time of 26.26.

On the men’s side, sophomore Robo Ibler won two of the closest races of the day for the Saints. The sprinter from Independence, MN beat RIT’s Jeff Kaemmerlen by only 14-hundredths of a second, winning with a time of 22.15, his best time thus far in the season. Kaemmerlen touched at 22.29.

Ibler’s 100-yard freestyle race was even closer, as he and Tiger John Hessler swam stroke-for-stroke for the last 25 yards of the race, with Ibler taking first place points with a time of 49.79 while Hessler finished only eight-hundredths of a second behind at 49.87.

Ibler was also a member of the second-place Saints’ 200-yard freestyle relay team, which included senior Steve Walano, junior Mike Trumbower, and first-year Mike McPhillips, who finished the race with a 1:33.85.

The only other Saint win of the day came from sophomore Matt Kirkpatrick, who had a dominating swim in the 1000-yard freestyle, defeating the rest of the field by nearly an entire length of the pool, clocking in at 10:47.71. RIT’s Eric Stevens placed second with a time of 10:59.74.

In diving, two St. Lawrence pool records fell to RIT senior Quinn Donahue, who broke both the 1-meter and the 3-meter records. Donahue scored 300.00 points in the 1-meter, breaking the previous record of 288.00 set back in 1987. In the 3-meter, he broke a 22-year old record with a score of 319.27, beating the previous 307.35 mark set back in 1985.

The Saints, who are both 3-1 overall in the season, will host a dual meet against the Yellowjackets from the University of Rochester on Sunday. The first race between the two Liberty League teams is set to begin at 12:00pm.