Men’s and Women’s Swimming Split Against Colby-Sawyer College
CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College freshman Ethan Etheridge (Pawtucket, R.I.) set a new Blazers school and pool record in the 50-meter breaststroke and the men's 200-meter medley relay team set a new school in pool record to help pace Elms to a split in Saturday afternoon's swim meet against Colby-Sawyer College at Partyka Natatorium.
The men's squad posted a 140-110 win over Colby-Sawyer (1-3) to improve to 3-0 on the season, while the women's team suffered a 160-102 loss against the Chargers (3-1) and move to 1-3 overall.
On the men's side, Elm's 200-meter medley relay team of freshman James Grippo (Longmeadow, Mass.), Etheridge, junior Keegan Goan (Westbrook, Maine) and junior Aaron Starke (Chicopee, Mass.) glided to a top time of 1:56.72 setting a new school record and besting the previous pool mark (1:56.95) which WPI set in 2005.
Etheridge won three individual events including the 50-meter breaststroke with a school and pool record time of 31:17. He also won the 100-meter freestyle (58.62) and 100-meter breaststroke (1:16.47).
Freshman Stephen Lynch (Madison, Conn.) won the 200-meter freestyle (2:05.72) and the 100-meter backstroke (1:07.62), senior Mark Gehring (West Springfield, Mass.) secured top honors in the 400-meter freestyle (4:53.60), Goan notched first in the 100-meter butterfly (1:01.57), Starke touched the wall first in the 50-meter freestyle (26.17), freshman Kyle Murphy (Holyoke, Mass.) won the 800-meter freestyle (9:57.71) and Grippo clocked a time of 31.18 in the 50-meter backstroke.
The exhibition relay team of Lynch, Gehring, Murphy, and Starke also set a school record in the 400-meter freestyle relay, registering a time of 4:01.44 and shattering the previous school record of 4:27.50 set in 2007.
For the women, junior Devon DeGrazia (Westport, Mass.) secured three first place finishes, powering to times of 10:00.97 in the 800-meter freestyle, 34.62 in the 50-meter backstroke, and 1:15.11 in the 100-meter backstroke.
Senior Tessa Dudunake (Northampton, Mass.) added a pair of wins in the 50-meter and 100-meter breaststroke with respective times of 37.15 and 1:23.45.
Elms returns to the pool on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 1-2 at the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championships hosted by Simmons College.
