Josephine Emanuelli
Men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened their 2017-2018 season with a home meet against Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday, October 14. Both the men’s and the women’s teams lost to the Ducks, but there were outstanding performances from both teams.
On the women’s side, returning Rookie of the Year Mal Vishwanath (‘20) won the 500 yard, 1,000 yard and the 1,560 yard freestyle events, earning a NCAA “B” cut in the 1,650. This is the third NCAA qualifying time in program history. Her 1,000 yard split for this event was 10:33.29, the fastest in the country this season. In another highlight of the meet, Stephanie Cushman (‘20) and Jenny Stein (‘18) earned first and second in the 100 yard backstroke, with Cushman adding a second in the 100 yard breaststroke, and Stein coming in second for the 50 yard freestyle. Katie Jefferson (‘20) added a second place in the 100 yard butterfly and Jamie Riffel (‘20) was second in the 200 yard freestyle.
The men also had strong performances despite the loss, with returning Rookie of the Year Michael Ma (‘20) winning both the 100 backstroke and the 200 yard individual medley; his time for this event is currently sixth in the country. Jack Mahoney (‘19) grabbed third in both the 50 yard and 100 yard freestyle, while teammate Alexandre Sannibale (‘21) was also able to grab a pair of third place finishes in the 200 yard and 500 yard freestyle events. Matheus Macena (‘21) brought in a third place finish in the 100 yard butterfly.
The Rangers hit the road for a set of dual meets this weekend; they are at Montclair State on Friday night before traveling to King’s College on Saturday.
