COLLEGE PARK, Maryland, October 27. MARYLAND swept Johns Hopkins on Friday with the women taking a 102-90 triumph and the men claiming a 120-82 victory.
For the women's meet, head coach Dave Durden responded positively.
"We are leaps and bounds away from where we were last year at this point in time," said Durden, "I think we can attribute this to our training. Our fitness level across the board is better and we are still trying to improve in some areas strength-wise. Technically, we have just become better racers and we can see this in our faster swimming this meet as opposed to a year ago at this time."
Maryland dominated in the 50-yard freestyle claiming the top-three places. Junior Emily Smoak (Salisbury, Md.) won the event (24.63) followed by senior Natalie Ferdinand (St. Thomas, Barbados) in second (25.16) and freshman Cindy Gangloff (Akron, Ohio) finishing third (26.31) .
The Terps had an impressive showing in the 200 free with sophomore Yelena Skalinskaya in first (1:53.70), freshman Jackie Davidson (Beverly, Mass.) in second (1:54.74) and junior Kirsten Jones (Lafayette Hill, Pa) following in third (1:54.78).
Durden was pleased with the outcome of this event, "Lena swimming a 1:53 and Kirsten and Jackie going 1:54 are real solid swims. I was happy to see that." Jones went on to swim a top-finishing 5:04.97 in the 500 free.
Skalinskaya had her second win of the day in the 100 free (51.07) and senior Kaleena Laputka (Shamong, N.J.) came in second (54.18).
Freshman Andrea Lehner (Orchard Park, N.Y.) won the 1000 free in 10:11.37, followed by Freshman Nina Rossi (Princeton, N.J.) finishing second in 10:39.08. Rossi went on to win the 200 IM (2:09.86) and junior Katarina Csomova (Komarno, Slovakia) followed with a second-place finish in the event (2:12.91).
Maryland had the top-three times in the 100 backstroke with Lehner swimming a 57.12, Davidson a 58.97 and Ferdinand a 1:01.03.
In the 100 breaststroke, Maryland had the top-two times: Smoak (1:07.47) and Csomova (1:07.78). Gangloff had a fourth-place time of 1:10.55.
The Terps also captured the top-three finishes in the 100 butterfly. "Our flyers did very well. Annie, Gigi, and Patty all did a nice job in what we have been wanting them to work on in the 100 fly," said Durden. Freshman Annie Broome (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the way (57.31), followed by senior Gigi deToll (Culpeper, Va.) in second (58.10), and freshman Patty DeScenza (Naperville, Ill.) in third (58.57).
The Terps swept the 200-yard medley relay beating out the two Johns Hopkins relay teams. The first-place finishing team consisted of Ferdinand, Smoak, deToll, and Laputka (1:48.53) followed by a second-place finish for the relay team of Davidson, Csomova, Broome, and Gangloff (1:49.87).
Moving forward from the first win of the season Durden said, "We are not trying to get ahead of ourselves yet. We have to take it one practice at a time. At this point in the season, how we train dictates how we race. It is so important that we come ready to go in a practice-type scenario, almost as important as coming ready for a race."
For the men, Durden responded as follows.
"We are leaps and bounds away from where we were last year at this point in time," said Durden, "I think we can attribute this to our training. Our fitness level across the board is better and we are still trying to improve in some areas strength-wise. Technically, we have just become better racers and we can see this in our faster swimming this meet as opposed to a year ago at this time."
Senior Danny Gray (Carlisle, Pa.) won the 50-yard freestyle (20.66). Freshman Ryan Greene (Minnetonka, Minn.) came in fifth followed by sophomore Chris Chambers (Cheverly, Md.) and sophomore Jake DiPiazza (Silver Spring, Md.) in sixth and seventh respectively.
Sophomore Dong Kim (Bucks Co., Pa) took the 100 free (46.11) followed by DiPiazza in a third-place finish (50.08). Chambers finished in sixth and Greene swam to a seventh-place finish.
Junior Eric Thomasson (Severna Park, Md.) placed second in the 200 free (1:45.81) and freshman Aleksandar Damjanic (Zagreb, Croatia) was right behind in third place (1:46.55).
"We saw some very solid racing out of Chris Rouchard in the distance events," commented Durden. Freshman Chris Rouchard (Westlake, Ohio) won the 1000 free (9:50.35) and junior Ken Golaszewski (Boulder, Colo.) finished in fourth (10:02.49). Rouchard also swam to a first-place finish in the 500 free (4:50.37), while Golaszewski came in fourth (4:55.11) and freshman Kevin Reardon (Voorhees, N.J.) finished fifth (5:03.04).
Thomasson went on to win the 100 backstroke (53.61) and freshman Spencer Wike (Sterling, Ill.) finished fourth (55.69).
In the 100 butterfly, sophomore Andrew Weinert (Allentown, Pa.) led the way with a first-place finish (52.07).
Durden noted that, "Andrew Weinert's 100 fly was a lot better technically than it was at this time last year." Damjanic came in third in the 100 fly (53.00) followed by senior Andrew Doeck (Boca Raton, Fla.) and sophomore Kyle Glennon (Jarresttsville, Md.) finishing in sixth and seventh respectively.
The Terps took the top-three places in the 100 breast with sophomore Eric Cullen (Severn, Md.), claiming first (59.01) senior Tony Miller (Severna Park, Md.), in second (59.04) and senior Tim Shepard (Catonsville, Md.) in third (59.13).
Maryland dominated the 200 IM claiming the top three finishes. Miller won the event (1:57.18), Shepard finished second (1:59.57) and Cullen followed in third (1:59.85). Freshman Spencer Wike (Sterling, Ill.) picked up a fifth-place finish in the event (2:00.87).
The 200 medley relay team of Kim, Cullen, Weinert, and Gray swam to a first-place finish (1:33.80).
Moving forward from the first win of the season, "We still have some young guys that will develop and we are excited to watch them progress," Durden said, "We are not trying to get ahead of ourselves yet. We have to take it one practice at a time. At this point in the season, how we train dictates how we race. It is so important that we come ready to go in a practice-type scenario, almost as important as coming ready for a race."