Kassel Franco Garibay
The Rangers returned from the Landmark Conference in Germantown, Maryland this past Wednesday both with fourth place finishes, matching the results of the Landmark coaches preseason poll. The women’s swimming and diving team achieved a total of 410 points while the men amassed a total of 472. The Drew athletes won various medals and awards, including the 2017-18 Swimmer of the Year, awarded to Mal Vishwanath (‘20) and the Landmark Co-Diver of the Year awarded to Jenny Stein (‘18). “We did fantastically well as a team, and the atmosphere of support was phenomenal,” said Vishwanath. “Every one of us was either behind the blocks or up on the stands yelling as loudly for each other as possible, which I believe played a huge part in our performance. The team worked so hard this season, and the results definitely showed!”
Catholic’s men and Susquehanna’s women claimed the first places for their teams. This is the second consecutive year in which both squads, women’s and men’s, finished fourth at the Landmark Championships; it is the best finish for the Rangers in program history.
Vishwanath won three gold medals over the weekend and finished strong by setting a record on the last day of the meet. In the 1650 yard freestyle her time was 17:12:09 which is 12 seconds faster than the former record. This is Vishwanath’s sixth Landmark title in her outstanding career. The team of Stein, Vishwanath, Jamie Riffel (‘20) and Katie Jefferson (‘20) finished second in the 400 yard freestyle relay with a final time of 3:35.55, a little under 2 seconds behind the Susquehanna relay team.
Drew men’s swimming team ended 2-5 in the 1650 freestyle. The second place went to Garrett Pilkington (‘20) and Mack Fox (‘19) finished fifth. Their times were 16:43.70 and 17:03.99 respectively. The men 400 freestyle relay squad included Jack Mahoney (‘20), Ryan Underwood (‘20), Michael Ma (‘20) and Matheus Macena (‘20). They finished third with a time of 3:11.53. Mahoney also won third-place in the 100 freestyle.
“I’m really proud of each and every person on the team,” Stein said. “Everyone worked really hard this year and it paid off with making finals, best times and new school records. I’m going to miss this team next year!”
