As the beat writer for the swimming and diving teams, I’ve tried my best to shove this sport into the spotlight that is dominated by other sports like basketball and soccer. You have to appreciate the men and women who enter the West Gym pool all the time, to the point that chlorine swims through their blood. These swimmers and divers are all great assets to the Bearcats community. To that note, in recapping the performance of both teams this winter break, I’ve come up with a few awards that head coach Sean Clark proudly handed out. The following are Coach Clark’s picks and his comments on why he chose those picks.
Top swimmer:
Men: To Clark, it was a toss up between Jason Chen and Brenno Varanda, that ultimately went to Chen.
“[Chen’s] versatility really turned some meets in our favor.”
Chen was the America East swimmer of the week last week.
Women: Amanda Ciccone. “She broke a team record earlier in the year. She keeps piling up the victories.”
Top diver:
Men: Ryan Graham. “He continues to be outstanding. We take it for granted that he will be putting some great scores on the board.”
Women: Jenna Easton. “A freshman who has been battling some health concerns, but has been surprisingly consistent. She had her first collegiate win last Saturday.”
Most improved athlete:
Men: Kevin Kearney. “He came back after a summer of hard work and is starting to be a key figure for us.”
Women: Rita Brodfuehrer. “She had a key swim that won the meet for us at Drexel.”
Athlete to keep an eye on:
Men: Joe Perez-Rogers. “My freshman who already set a freshman record for us. He will open some eyes at the conference meet.”
Women: Tricia Alejandrio. “She puts up some top times on our team. Come conference [championship], she will score a lot of points for us.”
Team leader:
Men: Sean Lorenz. “He keeps us steady in and out of the pool.”
Women: Amanda Decker. “She is the glue that holds this whole thing together.”
Stand-out freshman:
Men: Nolan Slesnick. “He broke three freshman records so far. He will push himself pretty high up in the conference standings at the end of the year.”
Women: Elizabeth Hawkins. “She swam some surprisingly fast times last semester and we’ll see if we can get her back at the top of her game.”
Other Stand-outs:
Men: Philip Dzieniszewski. “He has been training like a wild man. My big junior sprinter.”
Women: Lyndsi Worthington. “She has exceeded her performances from last year as an impressive freshman.”
Favorite Winter Break Moment:
Seniors Brenno Varanda and Andrew Palumbo both broke the pool record in 100 breast while swimming the 200 breast.
“[Varanda] breaking the 100 split was amazing. He still had enough to reach down and win the race after just smashing that record. [Varanda and Palumbo] both went under the old standard. It is tough to only leave one on the board. They’ve been training together for four years, going back and forth … you never know what’s going to happen. It’s been a blessing to have those two up on the blocks and to count on them.”