NYU Swimming & Diving triumphed over Stevens Institute of Technology and Drew University at home at the NYU Fall Invitational last weekend.
NYU’s swimming and diving teams defeated Stevens Institute of Technology and Drew University at the NYU Fall Invitational. (Courtesy of NYU Athletics)
The #8 women’s and #9 men’s swimming and diving teams won the NYU Fall Invitational at the Palladium on Friday, November 4th and Saturday, November 5th.
In the team’s first meet of the season, the Violets took advantage of home pool advantage over unranked swimmers from Stevens Institute of Technology and Drew University. Drew University sent only two divers.
The women’s team finished first with 551 points, more than 65 more than Stevens (219 points) and Drew University (266 points) combined. The men’s team also finished first with 546 points, 30 more than Stevens Institute of Technology’s 251 points and Drew University’s 253 points combined.
The swimmers of the women’s team have victories in all distances and events.
In the short distance, freshman Kaylee McIntyre won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.09 seconds.
Two Violet swimmers finished less than a second apart in the 200-yard butterfly. Sophomore Kaitlyn Marshall won in 2:04 behind freshman Nicole Ranil in her first NYU race. Junior Candace Saksod won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:09.
“Individually, I am very happy with my time so far in the season,” said Ranil. “As a team we were very strong and pushed each other during our races. I’m looking forward to continuing to work hard in training and getting closer to my best times before the mid-season meet and the championships.”
In the longer distance, sophomore Georgia Basil won the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 17:58.
Among the men’s short-distance swimmers, sophomore Ajay Watanakun won the 50-yard freestyle in 20:78. In addition, two other sophomores won the 200-yard freestyle and medley, Nathaniel Yeo in 1:40 and Jaden-Hans Iburan in 1:55, respectively.
In the 500-yard freestyle, senior Thomas Pritchard finished in 4:39, less than 0.35 seconds ahead of sophomore Connor Vincent. Vincent also won the 1,650-yard freestyle in 16:09 that day.
Freshman swimmer Stuart Zhu said the NYU Fall Invitational was a practice meet where swimmers were able to recognize when they were feeling tired and unfit for future races.
“Our team as a whole did really well considering how hard we worked in the pool and the gym,” Zhu said.
Zhu wasn’t entirely satisfied with his performance in the 200-yard medley and 100-yard breaststroke, but understood that training meets meant prioritizing racing experience over time.
“Moving forward, I hope to get stronger and get more power in my hitting,” Zhu said. “I think the back half of the speed will come naturally if we rest more.”
On the women’s side, freshman Mira Kasturi and sophomore Isara Schmidt finished with NCAA regional-qualifying results, scoring 266.03 in the one-meter and 279.98 in the three-meter, respectively.
Kasturi was followed by senior Kathryn Nardone in second place in the one-meter dash with a 260.85 and Schmidt in third place with a 245.25. Schmidt was followed in the three-meter by Katsuri with 256.8 points, followed by senior Nardone with 248.93.
On the men’s side, senior Hunter Whitback finished with an NCAA regional qualifying mark in the one-meter dash with a score of 289.05.
Whitback was followed by junior Sahil Das in second place with 269.18 points and senior Jack Callaghan in third place with 265.58 points in the one-meter dash.
Whitback also won the three-meter with 280.43 points, Callaghan was just behind in second with 273.83 and freshman Makai Harder finished third with 228.3 points.
The next swim meet for the Violets is at home against Johns Hopkins University at the Palladium Athletic Facility on November 19th. Divers are also looking forward to the Carnegie Mellon Diving Invitational on November 18 and 19 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Contact Ethan Rendon at [email protected]
