Men’s and Women’s Swimming Cruise to Second Place Finishes at the College of Mount Saint Vincent

YONKERS, N.Y. – The Elms College men's and women's swim teams swam to second place finishes at the College of Mount Saint Vincent Relay Invitational at Mark Twain Middle School in Yonkers, N.Y. on Saturday afternoon.

Old Westbury College won the men's meet with 88 points, followed by Elms (78) and Mount Saint Mary College (50) to round out the top three. SUNY Purchase finished fourth with 34 points, Sarah Lawrence College in fifth with 25 points, and Mount Saint Vincent in sixth with 23 points.

On the women's side, Mount Saint Mary posted 71 points to claim a three-point victory over second place Elms (68). SUNY Purchase placed third with 64 points, followed by Mount Saint Vincent (45), Sarah Lawrence (41) and Old Westbury (32).

Both the men's and women's team swam seven relay events and the Blazers glided to first place finishes in both the men's and women's 200-yard medley relay to open Saturday's action.

The team of freshmen Stephen Lynch (Madison, Conn.) and Ethan Etheridge (Pawtucket, R.I.), and juniors Keegan Goan (Westbrook, Maine) and Aaron Starke (Chicopee, Mass.) set a new school record with a time of 1:43.32 en route to top honors in the event.

The women's squad of senior Chalis Bird (Windsor, Mass.), Stephanie Tobin (Williamsburg, Mass.), and seniors Emalee Furtek (Ludlow, Mass.) and Tessa Dudunake (Northampton, Mass.) clocked a first place time of 2:04.93.

The women's team of seniors Dudunake, Tricia Ruell (Chicopee, Mass.), Furtek and Bird notched first place honors in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:51.94); and the men's combination of freshmen Kyle Murphy (Holyoke, Mass.), Etheridge, James Grippo (Longmeadow, Mass.) and Mikhail Kuyuzov (Swampscott, Mass.) won the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 4:07.95.

The women's team also won the 500-yard freestyle relay in a time of 5:10.85 behind the strong swimming of Tobin, Dudunake, Bird, Furtek and junior Jillian Francis (Methuen, Mass.). 

In addition to its two first place marks, the Blazers' men's team posted five second place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke (1:52.71), 200-yard breaststroke (2:10.22), 200-yard butterfly (1:48.93), 200-yard freestyle (1:35.85) and 500-yard freestyle (4:33.85) relay events.

The women's team added a second place finish in the 200-yard butterfly relay with a time of 2:07.15.

Elms returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 3 when it welcomes Simmons College and Gordon College to Partyka Natatorium at 1:00 p.m. The men's team will race against Gordon, while the women's team will race both the Fighting Scots and Simmons.