I have finally calmed down enough to type up my thoughts on this weekend’s dramatic meet. I would like to start by saying how proud I am of our team for carrying out the game plan we put together. On Friday, we had a team meeting to talk about staying loose and relaxed. The game plan was to stay in the moment, take it one event at a time and have fun along the way. Fun=Speed was the mantra. We talked about only controlling what is between our lane line or on our board, and not concerning ourselves with any distractions.
Women's Team
On the women’s side, we were still a little under the weather. Several of our team members were still battling illnesses. The rest of the team filled in and picked up where needed. Diving was huge for us. Ashley Jones won both boards and Faith O’Malley broke 200 for the first time on 3 meter. The women fell behind early, but went on to win eight events and secure the victory before the last relay. They took it one event at a time and out lasted the Griffins. The Purple Props for this week was awarded to Aubrey Kettrick. Aubrey won the 200 free, 100 free and anchored the 200 free relay to victory.
Men's Team
The men’s meet was even more dramatic. We led off with a great diving event to take the lead. We would not see a lead again until the end. Just like the women, the men stayed the course and took it one event at a time. In the end we only won five events. It was our depth that kept us in it until the end. This was a meet where every point counted. It came down to the last three events, the 3 meter dive, the 200 breast and the 200 free relay. There was no room to make mistakes. After going 1-2-3 in the 3 meter it was still possible. We had to do no worse than 2-3-4 in the breast, and then win the relay. The breaststrokers came through. Now it was up to the relay, made of seniors on Senior Day. The result, the seniors win the relay and NU wins by one point. The Purple Props for this weekend went to Ethan Mahoney and Cody Heimbrock. Ethan has been injured his entire career and has had multiple shoulder surgeries. I asked Ethan to extend himself and swim the 200 backstroke for the team. He went on to get 4th place and score 2 points. On the boards, Cody had his best performances of the season. This happened at exactly the right time for the team.
As a result of this weekend’s victory, Evinn Drusys and Ian O’Rourke won MAAC swimmer and MAAC diver of the week. Evinn won the 50 yard freestyle (21.88) and the 100 yard freestyle (48.91). His biggest moment of the meet came as a member of the 200 yard freestyle relay team that took first place and won the meet for Niagara, in a time of 1:28.34. O'Rourke swept both the one-meter and three-meter diving events, with scores of 327.53 and 292.80, respectively.
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