On Saturday Nov. 12, the Blue Wave hit the road to face conference rival SUNY Cortland. The women's team fell to 2-1 on the season, losing to the Red Dragons 145-149, while the men improved to 2-1, winning by a score of 161-133.
Both the men's and women's teams fought some injury issues, which left them a little shorthanded on Saturday. Far from their best lineup because of the injuries, the women's team left a few swimmers home that would have most likely made the difference.
Head coach Paul Dotterweich made no excuses for the loss though as he acknowledged, "Cortland was sharp and we weren't. We must now reevaluate what we are doing, training wise."
Regardless of the dissatisfaction of the team's performance, freshman Abby Max won the 100 backstroke in 1:03.57 and the 500 freestyle in 5:22.11. Junior Kaitlin Wilcoxen also took the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.04 and the 200 breaststroke in 2:33.45. Near the end of the meet, first year Katie Jesaitis placed second in the 200 breast.
On the men's side, seniors Dan Strothenke and CJ Schaub along with freshman John Nasky won two events each. Schaub won the 100 and 200 breaststroke, Nasky placed first in the 1000 and 500 freestyles and Strothenke won the 50 and 100 freestyle events. Freshmen Bryan Schaub and Kenny Athans won the 200 fly in 2:07.03 and the 200 IM in 2:04.32, respectively. Sophomore Brandon Peifer claimed first in the one-meter diving with a score of 250.5 for Geneseo.
"When we knew it was going to be close, [Jesaitis] really performed well for us," Dotterweich said.
The freshmen also contributed in diving as Caroline Gardner won the one-meter and three-meter diving events with point totals of 217.45 and 223.55, respectively.
"Mentally I was really pleased … they weren't performing well, they were frustrated, but it didn't show in their attitude on deck," Dotterweich said. "If there was a positive thing that came from this weekend, it was that they handled it very well emotionally. They didn't get upset. I'm sure they were frustrated but they all gave it their best and they held it together."
"I'm really anticipating, with a few changes in the training, that we will see some good performances this weekend," Dotterweich said confidently.
The Blue Wave will need some good performances if they hope to be successful against Ithaca College, Hartwick College and Hamilton College this Saturday Nov. 19.