As the Geneseo Blue Wave men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams approach the final stretch of the regular season, they are proving to be a force to be reckoned with.
On Saturday Feb. 1, Blue Wave took on conference foe Buffalo State College in its final home meet before the Geneseo Invitational. Like all the other SUNYAC teams that lost to Geneseo this season, Buffalo State suffered the same fate.
The women’s team improved to 11-2 with a 159-94 victory, while the men picked up their ninth win of the season at 159-119 over the Bengals.
Junior Abby Max led on the women’s side. Max continued her impressive run of victories with four event wins, three of which set pool records for Geneseo.
Max set a pool record in winning the 100 backstroke (59.11 seconds) while also winning the 500 freestyle (5 minutes, 13.30 seconds).
Max then teamed with seniors Lauren Boyce and Lily Powell along with freshman Emily Jaworski to swim to a record-setting 200 medley relay. The team wasn’t done setting records, as Max, sophomores Julie Holloway and Kala Wilkins and junior Stephanie Wilcoxen were the first to reach the wall in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:38.67.
For the men, it was a family affair, as brothers freshman Kevin Schaub and junior Bryan Schaub won a combined five events. Kevin Schaub was victorious in three individual events, as he won the 100 backstroke (55.38), 200 backstroke (1:58.41) and 400 individual medley (4:29.06).
Sophomore Justin Ongkingco was also a double winner on the day with the fastest times in the 50 freestyle (23.13) and 200 breaststroke (2:22.04).
On the diving boards, senior Emily Wanamaker took top honors in both diving events, sweeping the competition. On the 3-meter she set an 11-dive school record with a score of 446.85, which was an NCAA Zone qualifier by over 36 points, while her six-dive score of 289.05 on 1-meter exceeded the Zone qualifier minimum by almost 35 points.
Head coach Paul Dotterweich expressed enthusiasm for both teams as they head toward the final push of the season.
“I’m really excited,” Dotterweich said. “We have a lot of people swimming their best times, which is what I like to see this time of year.”
Blue Wave hosts the Geneseo Invitational at noon on Saturday Feb. 8 in the last meet of the regular season before SUNYAC playoffs begin.