York, PA -- Although the Gallaudet Men and Women's Swim Team
dropped a pair of dual meets to York College and Marymount,
it added yet another team record as well as a York pool record, and
has now completed the most difficult part of its season schedule
against the four toughest teams in the Capital Athletic Conference
(CAC).
Leading the way for Aqua-Bison were freshmen Jimmy McGowan
(Florida) and Carlisle Robinson (Indiana), who continue to impress
with their speed and event flexibility. McGowan broke Ray
Clark's 200 Backstroke record by going 2:12.97 and Robinson just
missed Micki Poole's 20 year-old 200 Butterfly record as she
finished in 2:16.08. Robinson's victorious effort, which had
her opponents eating wake, was a York pool record. The
men's 400 Medley Relay also just missed a team record - the oldest
one in the book from 1973 - as freshman freestyle relay anchor
Daniel DiDonna (New Jersey) hit the wall at 4:10.04, just 3/10 of
one second off the 34 year-old mark; DiDonna was joined by
teammates McGowan, Michael Hubbs and Ryan Kobylarz.
And the freshmen were not done. Leading off the men's
freestyle relay, McGowan became the second fastest 100 Freestyler
in Gallaudet history by going 52.94, shattering his previous
personal best by three seconds. Similarly, Robinson
rocked the competition by leading off the women's free relay and
finishing that leg first in 57.99. Earlier in the week,
at a sanctioned time trial, Robinson broke the women's team record
in the 200 Breaststroke with a time of 2.41.91.
"What we are seeing," said Head Coach Bill Snape, "is not only the
birth of new stars at Gallaudet, but also across-the-board
improvement by all our swimmers who are training hard and
diligently." Swimmers who turned in life-time bests today
included women co-captains Kandace Morris and Marissa Larson,
sophomore Katie Day, freshman Kira Roberts, sophomore Michelle
Camara, junior Scott Cohen, and freshman Trista
Langford. Further, freshmen Misella Tomita and Kristin
Dressler competed in their first meet ever.
"While all our future meets this season will be challenging, we
will be competitive in all of them and have a chance to win many if
not all of the remaining eleven dual meets over the next several
months before Championships," continued Snape.
The Aqua-Bison next face rival Goucher College in Baltimore on
Saturday November 10. The Gophers will be seeking to avenge
their defeat to the Gally men's team, who beat Goucher last year
for their first ever conference win. "November will be a
major gut check for this team," concluded Snape.
