In the last home meet of their careers, the seniors of the Blue Wave put on a memorable performance as both the men's and the women's teams defeated SUNY Oswego on Jan. 28.
"We have a very talent-heavy men's senior class this year so it's tough to see them all go," said head coach Paul Dotterweich. "It's going to be hard for us to fill those shoes next year."
"Senior day is always a tough day as a coach," Dotterweich continued. "There are always athletes that you really bond with and now have to realize that this is it."
Senior Ken Pink, who has really come up big for Geneseo as of late, had another stellar meet, winning the 100-meter breaststroke in 59.38 seconds and the 200-meter breaststroke in 2 minutes 12.25 seconds. Pink also joined seniors Josh Kaplan, Drew Rogers and Aaron Wagner to set a pool record time of 1:37.22 in the 200 medley relay.
Seniors Jeff Singer, Nate Foley and Kaplan also won individual swims. Singer's 2:02.64 in the 200 fly, Foley's 10:12.09 in the 1,000 free and Kaplan's 56.04 in the 100 back all took first place.
On the boards, sophomore Brandon Peifer won the one-meter and three-meter with scores of 299.80 and 277.35, respectively. Peifer's one-meter score also became a new pool record. The next day at Dick Comanzo Memorial Diving Invitational in Ithaca, N.Y., Peifer scored 474.35 points on the three-meter, qualifying him for the NCAAs.
On the women's side, sophomore Lily Powell won the 200 fly in 2:13.34 and the 400 IM in 4:52.34. Powell's tremendous effort put her just two tenths of a second shy of the 200 fly pool record. There were 11 overall winners for the Geneseo women on the day.
The recent success is even more impressive when you consider the amount of injuries and illnesses Geneseo has had to endure. "The illness the men's team has had … I've never seen it in 15 years of coaching," said Dotterweich. "These guys are talented enough that they're going to contribute either way, but obviously our chances of sending our relays lessens."
Regardless of the trials the Blue Wave has faced this year, they have continued to compete at an impressively high level.
"Am I confident? Absolutely," said Dotterweich, expressing the upmost faith in his team's ability to rise above adversity.
Geneseo competes in the SUNYAC Championships on Feb. 9-11 where the women are four-time defending champions and the men look to claim their 14th consecutive team title.