This past weekend the Geneseo men's and women's swim teams opened up their season at home with a resounding victory against Buffalo State.
The Blue Wave took the men's meet with a final score of 140-86 and the women's meet by a margin of 137-83.
The men's team won every event against its opponents but opted to race in some of the later contests as exhibitions after the win was assured. The 200-yard medley relay A team for Geneseo finished first with a time of 1 minute, 38.73 seconds. The team consisted of sophomores Josh Kaplan, Ken Pink, Aaron Wagner and Andrew Kuter. The 1,000-yard freestyle was lead by fellow sophomore Colin Heinemann, 10:44.48.
The Blue Wave also took the first two spots of the 200-yard freestyle with times of 1:50.76 for sophomore C.J. Schaub and 1:51.76 for Kaplan. The 50-yard freestyle went to Kuter with a time of 22.06 with sophomore Dan Strothenke coming in a close second at 22.46.
The Geneseo A team for the 200-yard freestyle relay recorded the best overall time at 1:30.24. The team featured Strothenke, Wagner, freshman Kyle Crompton and sophomore Mike Daly.
The women's team also won in every event in which they competed. The Geneseo A team for the 200-yard medley relay came in first with an overall time of 1:55.08. The team was made up of senior Liz Krause, freshman Kaitlin Wilcoxen, junior Jennifer Anthone and sophomore Alex Dockstader.
Geneseo took authority over the 1,000-yard freestyle also. Junior Michelle Rodriguez finished first with a time of 11:00.56 followed by freshman Elyssa Max at 11:20.45 and junior Kelly Battaglia at 11:40.45.
Senior Natalie Thorpe won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:02.74. The 50-yard freestyle consisted of Dockstader in first at 25.69, followed by Wilcoxen at 26.34 and freshman Molly Carney at 26.90. In the 200-yard freestyle relay the Geneseo A team once again recorded the best time, 1:43.95. The team featured Dockstader, Krause, Max and Rodriguez.
Head coach Paul Dotterweich said he was happy with his team's performance over the weekend. "It's early in the season and we had to adjust to the competition," he said. "When they become tougher, there isn't as much flexibility."
Dotterweich said he feels that this Saturday's invitational against Alfred State will be a good chance to incorporate more of the new players. "Alfred has a solid men's team and bringing three teams more as competition works out well. There is no entry limit because this is a seated meet which is a better opportunity for a bigger team like us," Dotterweich said.
On a broader outlook for the entire season, Dotterweich said he believes there is much to look forward to. "We brought in many good recruits this year on both the men's and women's team and the expectation is always for us to win the SUNYAC championship and a lot of pressure comes with this," he said. "Our athletes step up to the challenge every year though and this is why swimmers want to come to Geneseo. I hope to improve our standing nationally and maybe send more of the men to nationals. The pieces are there to keep up our tradition of excellence."
This Saturday at 1 p.m. the Blue Wave will compete at home in the Geneseo Invitational.