Jan. 7, 2008
Complete Results
KEY LARGO, Fla. - The George Mason swimming team returned to action this past weekend, and found the warm climate of the Florida Keys to their liking as they swept first place in the 2008 Orange Bowl Swimming Classic, which pitted eight universities against each other at the Jacobs Aquatic Center. The Mason women took home first place with a score of 427 points, while the men matched Boston College's mark with 464 points to tie for first in the meet.
"It was a spirited meet and a whole lot of fun to compete against some different competition in a different environment than anything we're used to," said head coach Peter Ward. "Swimming outdoors against teams we've never seen before, we weren't looking much at team points, but it's always good to be able to stand up and have to compete, whether or not it's against a CAA team or other competition."
The women finished one-two in the first event of the day, the 200-meter medley relay, with the `A' team of sophomore Jessica Jacoby, freshman Jenny Kane, senior Sarah Bizer, and freshman Katie Planchak narrowly beating the team of freshman Aileen Foley, junior Mary Beth Cheslock, freshman Paige Ver Heul, and sophomore Millie Wanamaker with a time of 2:06.92, compared to 2:07.95 for the `B' team.
In the 400-meter freestyle, freshman Lara Shoemaker took home first place with a 4:43.08 time. Bizer out-swam her nearest competitor by over a second in the 50-meter butterfly, winning with a time of 29.66. Cheslock and sophomore Caitlin Impink finished one-two in the 100-meter freestyle with times of 1:01.47 and 1:02.10, respectively.
Senior Mallory Pucci picked up another win for the Patriots with a 2:29.84 time in the 200-meter individual medley. The women went on to sweep the relays, as the `B' team of Planchak, Impink, freshman Brittany Vocke and Bizer finished in 1:50.91, edging the `A' team of Cheslock, sophomore Claire Weems, freshman Erica Hydrusko, and Pucci, who finished in 1:53.89.
On the men's side, sophomore Tad Ogren brought home the first winning time with a 27.30 mark in the 50 fly. Two events later, sophomore Ryan David's 1:01.14 time in the 100-meter backstroke marked another event win.
Junior Eric Knight won in the 50-meter breaststroke with a 1:01.44 time, while freshman Charles Archer and sophomore Matt Marquart took gold and silver in the 50-meter backstroke with times of 30.09 and 30.54, respectively. Freshman Stephen Sullivan was the final event winner for the men, taking home first in the 100-meter breaststroke when he clocked in at 1:11.07.
Mason returns to the water on Saturday when it travels to CAA foe Towson for a 1 p.m. meet.
