The Monmouth University men’s and women’s swim team hosted La Salle at Steadman Natatorium on Saturday Feb. 3 for Senior Day to close out their regular season.
After claiming wins against Iona on Nov. 3, Manhattan on Nov. 10, and Saint Peter’s on Jan. 20, the men’s team picked up their fourth win (148-114) versus the Explorers in Saturday’s meet. The women’s team found themselves on a winning streak of their own, picking up wins against Iona, Manhattan, Stony Brook, and Saint Peter’s, but unfortunately came up short when facing La Salle and lost 174-87.
Despite the women’s loss, junior Jensen Ritter contributed two victories for her team while sophomore Owen Dyson and fifth year Cole Dyson for the men’s team each contributed two individual victories as well. Junior Kristen Gullickson for the women’s team placed first in the 1000-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 10:52.55. This was the sixth win of her career.
Not only did we see Gullickson place first, but freshman Ziv Cohen who has seen quiet a lot of success as a freshman now has eight individual wins after she took first place in the 1000-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 9:39.16. Ritter came out on top in both the 100 (58.31) and 200-yard butterflies (2:06.86) which gave her 20 career victories and her tenth individual race this year.
Cole Dyson earned first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.23) as well as the 500-yard freestyle (4:41.32) while Owen Dyson placed first in both backstroke events; finishing with a time of 51.01 in the 100-yard backstroke and 1:53.00 in the 200-yard backstroke. This gave Dyson his eighth win of the season and ninth of the season.
Graduate student Blake Reynolds competed in the 50-yard freestyle and finished with a time of 21.06 to declare his eighth win of the season and 40th of his career. Reynolds alongside seven other Hawks; Katie Parker, Alexa Ploskonka, Maggie Young, Connor Currie, Cole Dyson, Dylan Edge, and Thomas Svane-From were recognized as part of Monmouth’s Senior Day celebration prior to the meet.
According to Monmouth University Athletics Website, Head Coach Matt Nunnally claimed, ““We had a really strong performance on both sides and it was great to acknowledge our seniors for their contributions to the program over their careers. We knew coming into the meet that La Salle was a strong team and I was proud of the way we elevated our performance. We knew it would be tight on the men’s side and they really stepped up in a big way today. The women also put forth a great effort and we are right where we need to be with the CAA Championships less than a month away.”
Monmouth looks to travel to Hampton VA to compete at the Hampton Aquaplex for the CAA Championship starting on Feb. 28.
Saturday, April 27, 2024
