FAIRFAX, Va. – Freshmen Miranda Simon and Emily Zhang each tallied a pair of victories for the Colonials, but the George Washington women’s swimming and diving team could not overcome a strong George Mason effort on Monday at the Patriots’ Aquatics and Fitness Center.
Competing in its second meet in a three-day span, GW tallied six event triumphs, but George Mason came out on top, 166-119.
“Racing for the third time in nine days, I was really impressed with our performance today,” said first-year head coach James Winchester. “Especially coming off of a very emotional senior day against Georgetown on Saturday.”
Consistently a top performer for the Colonials, Zhang nabbed a win in the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.34) and sophomore Abigail Fusco claimed third in the event (1:56.31). Zhang later touched the wall first in the 100-yard free (52.65) and posted second-place finishes in the 50-yard free with a new personal best (24.35) and the 400-yard medley relay alongside Fusco, senior Lauren Steagall and junior Lauren Law (3:56.30) to wrap a solid day.
Simon excelled on the boards, winning both 1-meter and 3-meter events with scores of 226.43 and 211.58, respectively. Sophomore Iman Lee had a strong day on the boards with a pair of third-place finishes, setting a new personal best in the 1-meter (189.75) and posting a score of 151.65 in the 3-meter.
“Our divers were a real high point today,” said Coach Winchester. “Miranda Simon was outstanding in both of her board wins, and Iman Lee had a personal best on the 1-meter while taking those third places.”
Freshman Lucy Castro and Law grabbed wins to round out GW’s race victories, triumphing in the 500-yard free (5:09.30) and 200-yard individual medley (2:07.33), respectively. Law added a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (59.42) to her day, while Castro joined forces with seniors Kally Vanderbilt and Mara Debnekoff and freshman Caroline Racke to take third in the 200-yard free relay (1:43.31).
Second-place finishes by senior Madison Reinker in the 1,650-yard freestyle (18:00.20), sophomore Hannah Kopydlowski in the 100-yard back (1:00.96) and Fusco in the 200-yard back (2:13.74) rounded out GW’s top-three finishing individual performances. Fusco, Kopydlowski and Reinker were joined by freshman Isobel Walker to take second in the 200-yard free (1:39.80) to close the meet.
“Our younger student-athletes keep continuing to step up, and I’m really excited to see how they do as we head toward the A-10 Championships,” said Coach Winchester. “Now we have to get back and focus on some more hard training this week as well as our academics as we head into our last meet weekend at ODU.”
The Colonials wrap the regular season on Saturday for their fourth meet within a 16-day span at a tri-meet hosted by Old Dominion with St. Andrews beginning at 2 p.m.
Swimming news courtesy of George Washington Swimming & Diving.
