Upon returning from winter training in Florida, the Geneseo Blue Wave achieved their 400th win in program history against SUNY New Paltz on Jan. 15. Head coach Paul Dotterweich commented on the win: "It was certainly a nice way to start the semester for us."
Senior swimmer Michelle Rodriguez continued her phenomenal season, setting five pool records at the meet. Both the Geneseo men and women defeated New Paltz and Rochester Institute of Technology at the first dual meet after winter break.
There was not much time for celebrating, as Geneseo was right back in the pool on Monday to face Monroe Community College. Though MCC did break Geneseo's 50-meter freestyle record held by senior Michelle Rodriguez, the Blue Wave rolled on to their 51st consecutive dual meet victory.
While the 400th win in program history certainly marked an achievement, Geneseo's defeat of Westminster College and No. 10-ranked Carnegie Mellon University on Jan. 22 was by far the highlight of the season to this point.
"That was one of the top two dual meets of my coaching career … to go in and beat the No. 10-ranked team in the country when you're unranked generally doesn't happen in swimming," Dotterweich said, noting that his swimmers went into the meet with a chip on their shoulder and swam with something to prove.
The team certainly proved their talent, jumping out to a large lead early on aided by career best performances from juniors Ken Pink and Aaron Wagner. Pink won the 200 breast stroke in 2:11.35, placed second in the 100 breast stroke in 1:00.29 and second in the 200 independent medley in 1:59.28 to lead Geneseo to its 153-146 victory.
The divers provided a tremendous spark early on, setting the tone by placing first and second on the one meter board and first, second and third on the three meter board.
"It's a luxury to have three high level divers … the competition was by no means slouches, posting very solid Division III diving scores, and we put three ahead of them which was awesome," Dotterweich said. The coach used the great showing from the divers to further pump up the rest of his team, showing them that they had a legitimate chance to pull off the upset.
Dotterweich noted that a majority of the races were decided by only tenths of seconds. Junior Nate Foley swam 16:33 shoulder to shoulder with a competitor from Carnegie Mellon in the 1650 yard freestyle, out-touching him to win by half a second.
The women defeated Westminster College 181-109 but fell to host Carnegie Mellon 179-114. Seniors Rodriguez and Jennifer Anthone teamed with freshman Corinne Vairo and sophomore Elyssa Max to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:40.63.
The Blue Wave head into SUNYAC competition with a high level of confidence, primed to continue their dominance this Saturday when they travel to SUNY Oswego.