BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In a meet that went all the way down to the wire, the Lehigh men’s swimming and diving team eeked out a close, yet successful 154-134 victory over archrival Lafayette Friday night in The Rivalry presented by Lehigh Valley Health Network and Coordinated Health. The win is the Mountain Hawks’ (2-2, 1-1 PL) 30th straight over the Leopards, taking a dominant 79-14 lead in the all-time series.
Lehigh managed to take home nine first place finishes en route to the 20-point win over Lafayette. Of the nine wins, Owen Thomas, Glenn Lasco and Miles Cox each earned two first place finishes, while Addison Cochran also got a pair of victories on the diving board to lead the Mountain Hawks to the win.
“It was definitely a nail-biter tonight,” said head coach Rob Herb. “I’ve said many times before, I’ve seen the progress of the Lafayette men’s program, which isn’t a surprise because it’s Jim Dailey. He’s an amazing coach that has put together a team that continues to chip away at us and it makes me nervous every year.
“We try to improve constantly. We did have a little bit of a miss in the fact that we had a three-week training period when we didn’t have any meets. That can put a strain on racing and I think it did. But while you want to sweep Lafayette, this was very much a team win. Everyone went out and did their part and we did it, that’s why we won. A win is a win, as much as I’d like to say I wanted to win by more, no, a win is a win.”
The big event of the night ended up being the final one, the 400-yard freestyle relay in which the Mountain Hawks needed at least a second and third place finish to get the dual meet victory. The team of Tim Norris, Aiden McCurley, Alex Patti and Lasco swam to a time of 3:03.85 to obtain the dramatic win. The relay team of Keagan Casey, Elvin Lee, Joe Huber and Connor Goodyear picked up third place with a time of 3:07.93.
The first victory of the night for Lehigh came in the 100-yard backstroke event when Thomas swam to a time of 49.44, beating out third place finisher Huber at 50.76. Thomas also won the 200-yard backstroke event with a time of 1:50.74.
Cox won his first of two in the 200-yard butterfly (1:50.70) while Janik Wing came in third place (1:55.11). Cox was also victorious in the 100-yard butterfly with his time of 49.74.
Per usual, Lasco secured wins in the 50-yard freestyle (20.62) and 100-yard freestyle (45.47) events.
And on the diving boards, it was Cochran who shined with a win in the one-meter (227.95) and the three-meter (260.48), in which he received 10 bonus points, giving the Mountain Hawks the cushion needed to move past the Leopards.
The Lehigh women’s swimming and diving team is off to a 4-0 start to the 2021-22 season after the Mountain Hawks used 13 first place finishes to completely dismantle Lafayette, 211-88 in The Rivalry presented by Lehigh Valley Health Network and Coordinated Health. With the victory, Lehigh wins its 14th straight meet over the Leopards and improve to 36-13 in the all-time series.
Fifth year freestylist Ann Foley swam to three first place finishes for the meet, while both Hallie Wilson and Sarah Hardy tallied a pair of wins for the Brown and White.
“The women continue to show so much strength,” said head coach Rob Herb. “Even in the areas we did not win events, our times were really strong. Again, we have not done a lot of racing this year, so getting back on the horse and seeing it happen was really cool.
“But it’s not just one person winning races for us this year, it’s been multiple different winners. The diversity of the winners on this team is what continues to make this team so special and strong.”
Lehigh kicked off the night with a bang in the 400-yard medley relay as the team of Wilson, Maddie Dorish, Hardy and Grace Rogowski swam to a time of 3:50.22 and a first-place finish, collecting nine points.
Julia Stevens got the win in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:41.00) while Foley got the first of three victories in the 200-yard free style (1:50.85). The Mountain Hawks picked up the 1-2-3 finish in the event with Rogowski (1:53.11) coming in second and Sarah Manthorp (1:53.31) third. Foley also picked up a win in the 50-yard freestyle (23.79) and the 100-yard freestyle (51.23).
Wilson got the first of her two individual event wins in the 100-yard backstroke with a winning time of 57.50. Willa Werwaiss picked up second place (58.24) while Monica Wintermute swam to a third-place showing (59.27). Wilson also placed first in the in the 200-yard backstroke event, beating out teammates Hardy (2:05.51) and Werwaiss (2:05.54) with a time of 2:03.13.
Sarah Hardy continued to showcase her abilities on the season, swimming to a win in the 200-yard butterfly (2:03.33), just ahead of second place Stevens (2:05.84) and Natalie Martin in third (2:06.23). She also claimed the win the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.55, just ahead of teammate Ashley Carper (58.61) in third place.
On the diving boards, freshman Sarah Gill picked up two more first place victories, adding to the start of her impressive collegiate career. She scored first in the one-meter diving event at 247.95, while placing first in the three-meter with a score of 244.77.
The Mountain Hawks closed out the meet in style with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay with the team of Manthorp, Mikalic, Stevens and Foley swimming to a dominant time of 3:31.54.
Lehigh will continue its dual schedule on Dec. 4 at Drexel, kicking things off at 1 p.m. from Philadelphia.
Courtesy: Lafayette Athletics
