FAIRFAX, Va. – In the final home meet of the season, the George Mason swimming & diving team swept conference rival George Washington in Saturday afternoon's dual held at the Jim McKay Natatorium.
The men's team took home a 188-95 victory and the women a 162.5-123.5 win as the Patriots won 18 of the swimming events that were scored on Saturday. Steven Blakely, Jesse Burnley, senior Michael Chestnut, Melissa Davis, Sydney Fisher, senior Paige Impink, Steff Maurer, Travis Lauri and senior Fernando Rubio were all swimmers that won multiple events on the afternoon, helping the men and women win their six and fifth duals of the season, respectively.
Impink and Fisher were members of the 200-yard medley relay that won in a first place time of 1:45.68 with the help of Shannon Slate and senior Anna Rattana. Burnley, Chestnut and Lauri joined Zepher Begnell in winning the men's 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1:34.52 to put both sides on top after the meet's first event and maintaining that lead throughout the rest of the day.
Rubio took home individual gold in the men's 1000-yard freestyle (9:41.20) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:07.99) to cap off the final dual meet of his George Mason career. Fellow senior Daniel Camozzo was also a winner in the men's 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:45.53.
Maurer preceded Camozzo's win with a narrow victory for herself in the women's 200-yard freestyle, touching the wall five-one hundredths ahead of GW's Caroline Meyers. The freshman also won the 200-yard backstroke in an even closer contest, winning by 0.01 seconds (2:08.90) over teammate Kara Tansill (2:08.91), who was a winner in the women's 200-yard IM (2:09.28).
Junior Steven Blakey picked up a pair of victories in the 100-yard backstroke (52.20), one one-hundredth of a second faster than Burnley, and also won the 200-yard backstroke in a time of 1:53.22. Burnley was an individual winner in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.55 over senior Joey Kelly (46.62).
Davis continued her winning ways with a first place time of 57.83 in the 100-yard backstroke while recording a winning time of 2:04.08 in the 200-yard event. In the fastest race of the afternoon, Fisher and Lauri each scored victories in the 50-yard freestyle with times of 24.09 and 20.78, respectively.
Although not scored for points, seniors Nick Guttendorf and Neena Maizels won the Patriot-only diving one-meter and three-meter diving events while also testing their racing abilities as members of the 200-yard freestyle relay teams.
Both teams will join their fellow conference members when they travel to Geneva, Ohio for the 2014 Atlantic 10 Swimming & Diving Championships. Competition runs from Wednesday, February 19 to Saturday the 22nd at the SPIRE Institute.
