The Blue Wave hosted its second-straight meet of the year on Nov. 10, but SUNY Cortland swam to overcome both the men’s and women’s teams.
According to head coach Paul Dotterweich, the Geneseo men’s team performed well in the loss and challenged a team that is “on paper … the best men’s team in the conference.”
Geneseo’s freshmen stood out in their second meet and accounted for five of the team’s six individual victories.
Freshman Kristian Tialios won three events: the 100 backstroke in 55.26 seconds, the 200 backstroke (1:59.09) and 200 IM (2:04.30).
The Mount Tremper, N.Y. native also assisted with the victorious 400 medley relay team that raced to a 3:39.38 finish.
Freshmen Yoonghong Jun and Justin Ongkingco, along with senior Frank Schiappa made up the rest of the relay team.
Dotterweich said he stressed relay exchanges in practice before the match, and noted that the extra work seemed to pay off, but that there was still room for improvement.
Both Jun and Schiappa won individual events as well. Jun captured the 100 butterfly and Schiappa seized the 50 freestyle in times of 53.09 and 22.04, respectively.
Sophomore Kenny Athans was the last men’s individual winner. He won the 200 breaststroke for the second week in a row with a time of 2:20.87.
Dotterweich said that while the Blue Wave swam some good races, “Cortland’s men were definitely the better team … but I’m alright with that … February is when it really matters for us.”
While the men’s team faced a superior opponent, Dotterweich said that he expected the women to win their meet and that he would take “full responsibility for the results there.”
Senior Kaitlin Wilcoxen led the women with wins in the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke for the second-straight meet.
Other winners included sophomores Abby Max and Haleigh Wixson, who won the 100 backstroke and 200 IM, respectively.
Freshman Hailey Modelewski posted the last individual win for the women; she bested the field in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:01.09.
Those four women also comprised the 400 medley relay team that beat Cortland by over eight seconds. Both Geneseo’s A and B teams finished ahead of Cortland’s A team.
Following the losses, Dotterweich stressed patience.
“There’s a method to this madness and a progression we need to follow … we’re going to ramp it up each week … You can’t train at your peak level for five straight months; it just doesn’t work that way,” he said.