The Monmouth University men’s and women’s swimming teams closed out their fall semester competition at the 2022 ECAC Winter Championships held at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, NY over the weekend.
Out of 11 opponents, the men’s team managed to place third while the women’s team finished fifth overall out of 15 competing teams. A total of seven school records were broken as the Hawks recorded two first place finishes. Graduate student Callan Smith also broke his own ECAC Championship record in the 200-yard backstroke for the second year in a row.
Competing teams included Columbia, UMBC, Saint Peter’s, LIU, St. Francis Brooklyn, Wagner, Stony Brook, Siena, Sacred Heart, Marist, Manhattan, Lehman, Felician, Baruch, Salem, Adelphi, and Stonehill.
On Friday Dec. 2, the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay team made history as they placed third while also breaking a school record thanks to Alexandra Ho, Edie Ancell, Jenna Pryne and Camryn McHugh clocking in at 1:34.96. Their record-breaking time took down the previous Monmouth record that was set back in 2018 by almost two seconds.
Senior Cole Dyson secured a second place finish in the 500-yard freestyle clocking in a time of 4:33.61.
Callan Smith applied pressure as he started his weekend with a new Monmouth record in the 200-yard IM, finishing in fourth place with a time of 1:51.45. Smith’s efforts allowed him to take down Hunter Klingener’s record that was previously set in 2020.
The 400-yard medley men’s relay team took home third place during the first day of competition as Callan Smith, Sean Cook, Blake Reynolds, and Thomas Svane-From finished in 3:20.66.
On Saturday Dec. 3, Monmouth’s men took third place in the 200-yard medley relay while setting a new school record in the midst of it all. The relay finished in 1:30.13 thanks to strong efforts from Kevin Del Giorno, Sean Cook, Blake Reynolds, and Owen Dyson.
Freshman Bailey Rynkiewicz broke and set her own school record in the 400 IM. Rynkiewicz swam a time of 4:37.11 in the prelims before finishing with a quick time of 4:36.31 in the B-Final.
Graduate student Camryn McHugh contributed to her team as she placed third in the 100-yard backstroke when she hit the wall at a time of 55.93.
During day two, Callan Smith had a second place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with his time of 48.23.
The men’s team finished second in the 800-yard freestyle relay with Cole Dyson, Callan Smith, Owen Dyson, and Thomas Svane-From posting their time of 6:47.06.
On Sunday, Dec. 4, Cole Dyson broke his own Monmouth school record in the 1650-yard freestyle with his first-place time of 15:49.85. Dyson hit the wall nearly five seconds faster than his previous set time at the ECAC Championships back in 2021. Dyson also added another school record swim under his belt when he finished the first 1000 of the race in just 9:33.31. Dyson won his second race of the season and the 14th of his career.
Callan Smith posted a time of 1:45.55 in the 200-yard backstroke which broke his own ECAC record. This win made by Smith is his 10th race of the season and the 83rd of his career.
The men’s team wasn’t finished as the 400-yard freestyle relay placed third posting a time of 3:02.93. Cole Dyson, Callan Smith, Kevin Del Giorno and Thomas Svane-From took home the bronze medals.
Looking ahead, Monmouth will continue to compete as the women’s team faces Stony Brook and the men’s team will battle NJIT in Long Island on Jan. 14 after the holiday break.
