Nathe Davidovich
Concluding the Ranger Invitational with two days of incredibly strong performances, the Drew University Rangers swimming & diving teams broke a total of 13 school records on Saturday at the Kirby Pool. Tallying 268 points in women’s competition and 263 points in the men’s competition, the Rangers swept both the men’s and women’s team titles.
On the women’s side Mal Vishwanath (‘20) managed to break a total of five team records, including the 500 yard freestyle, for which she posted an NCAA “B” qualifying time of 5:00.300, a 100 yard freestyle clocked-in at 53.19 seconds, and a collaborative effort as the anchor of the 400 yard freestyle relay. She was joined by Jenny Stein (‘18), Jamie Riffel (‘20) and Eve Morel (‘21). As a result of this outstanding overall performance, Vishwanath was named Female Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week for the third time this season.
Stephanie Cushman (‘20) also managed to seize first-place for the 100 yard backstroke (59.30) and 200 yard backstroke (2:09.53), while Katie Jefferson (‘20) managed to win the 200 yard butterfly event (2:23.41). Furthermore, Morel, Riffel, Vishwanath and Jennifer Cortez (‘20), who made up the 800 yard freestyle relay team, took first-place with a time of 8:06.37.
On the men’s side, the Rangers were able to take home first-place in the 100 backstroke (53.30) and the 200 butterfly (1:59.17) with strong performances by Michael Ma (‘20) and Matheus Macena (‘21). Shortly after, Mack Fox (‘19) posted a time of 4:52.56 in the 500 freestyle, breaking the Drew men’s school record for this event.
Following this, the team of Macena, Ryan Underwood (‘20), Jack Mahoney (‘20) and Ma clocked-in with a time of 3:14.03, setting the final school record of the weekend. Closing out the event, the men’s 800 freestyle relay team, made up of Garrett Pilkington (‘20), Alex Longacre (‘21), Mahoney and Fox, registered a time of 7:17.29.
With six weeks off before their next scheduled competition, the Rangers will look to capitalize on a short-break from their very successful fall season. Drew will host Landmark Conference rival Scranton to open the spring, at 1 p.m. on Jan. 20 in the F.M. Kirby Pool.
