The Boston University men’s swimming and diving team picked up where it left off before winter break Tuesday night, taking a 133-99 win over the College of the Holy Cross at BU’s Competition Pool.’
The Terriers improved to a perfect 6-0 in dual-meet competition, posting an average margin of victory of more than 40 points. BU took first place in nine of 13 events, four times sweeping the top three spots.
Each of the team’s eight first-place finishes in individual events came from a different swimmer, a testament to BU’s depth.
‘I think that the results were somewhat unique in that we did have multiple people step up in a variety of events to grab individual victories,’ BU coach Bill Smyth said in an email.’ ‘That can happen from time to time, and I do feel it speaks to our team’s versatility.’
The meet began with the 200-yard medley relay, where the first-place BU ‘A’ squad finished about four seconds ahead of the second-place ‘B’ team. The ‘C’ team finished fourth, about eight seconds out of first. Smyth noted that while the teams performed well, relay combinations are not static.
‘I’m always toying with the order and composition of the relay teams,’ he said. ‘They’re far from set.’
The 1,000-yard freestyle quickly became a two-man race, with junior Arik Seiler and sophomore Mark Nakanishi leaving the rest of the field behind to battle for third place. Seiler won with a time of 9:57.10, with Nakanishi on his heels at 9:59.94. Each finished more than 50 seconds ahead of their nearest competition.
Sophomores Kyle Ernst and Brett McKenzie took the top two spots in the 200-yard freestyle with times of 1:45.28 and 1:52.40, respectively.
Freshmen Daniel Kempf and Justin Gilmartin took first and third place respectively, in the 50-yard freestyle, while sophomore Matt Rickett placed second to complete the top-three sweep.’
Junior Kyle Berg’s 2:01.75 was good for first in the 200-yard individual medley, a performance Smyth called ‘impressive.’ Fellow juniors Ben Kaiser and John Passaro claimed the event’s other two top spots.
Gilmartin and McKenzie took first and second in the 100-yard butterfly event, and Bryon Kallert, Ben Smith and Pat McCarthy swept the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle. Freshman Jackson Hill led Berg and Rickett in another top-three sweep in the 100-yard backstroke.
In the diving competition, sophomore Tanner Knorr scored a 311.18 on the 3-meter diving board to secure BU’s final first-place finish of the day. One of the team’s top divers, senior Andre Watson, did not compete because of a minor injury. According to Smyth, he will dive this weekend.
With only five weeks remaining on the schedule, the Terriers are nearing the season’s home stretch. Smyth said that while the team’s expectations are high, it is going to take some work to maintain and improve upon this current run of success and finish at the top of its game.
‘We need to solidify our team chemistry even further to allow us to reach our fullest potential. We’re a very good team now, but we still have some work to do to be a great team,’ Smyth said. ‘We’re training at a higher level than at any point so far this year.’
Both the men’s and women’s teams will face Dartmouth College this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the Competition Pool.
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