Rutgers Meet Final Results
Columbia Meet Final Results

Staten Island, NY - The Wagner College swimming and diving team battled Rutgers and Columbia in their final two dual meets of 2010 over the weekend, dropping Friday's contest 179-100 to the Scarlet Knights, before falling short of Columbia on Saturday 158-112.

The Seahawks kicked off the weekend making the short trip over the bridge to New Brunswick, NJ. Heading into the weekend, the Scarlet Knights were 0-1 in dual meets, with their only loss coming to West Virginia. Eager to get their first win of the season, Rutgers came out strong winning the days first nine events. Wagner's Alanna Gibbons (Staten Island, NY) snapped the Scarlet Knights streak in the 100 yard butterfly, earning first place points with a time of 1:02.47. Fellow Seahawks Tatum Colitz (Wyomissing, PA) and Breanne Sweeney (Staten Island, NY) helped the Green and White sweep the event as they took second and third place, respectively.

Another 16 point sweep came in the 200 yard IM, where Kelsey Thomas (Hammonton, NJ), Gibbons, and# Kristen Lee# (Cherry Hill, NJ) finished as the top three.

Wagner's 400 yard freestyle relay team gave the Green and White their third and final win of the day, as the all-freshman team of Sarah Menendez (Land O'Lakes, FL), Amber Weech (Nassau, Bahamas), Kristiana Kalibat (Princeton, NJ) and Alexandra Cooney (Port Jervis, NY) earned the 11 points with a time of 3:48.98.

“"We swam pretty tired and beaten up and to compete with a team like Rutgers you need to be better than that,” said third year head coach Mark Sowa. “However, there were some bright spots and we did battle. It is a long season and it will not always be easy to swim fast. We are a young team that will learn from this experience."

The team didn't have much time to learn from the Rutgers meet, as the next afternoon the squad headed into Manhattan to swim against the Ivy league's Columbia University. Like Rutgers, the Lions entered the day winless in dual meets, having dropped contests to Yale and Harvard in the beginning of November.

After watching Columbia take the first place in the meets opening 12 events, the Seahawks closed out the 16-event meet sweeping the last four.

Kalibat earned the Seahawks first gold in the 500 yard freestyle with sophomores Dana Samuel (Rivonia, South Africa) and Austyn Carolin (Augusta, ME) coming in second and third. Meredith Ketchmark (Plainsboro, NJ) and Colitz picked up a combined 13 points in the 50 yard butterfly, before Cooney, Thomas, and Megan DiBenedetto (Brooklyn, NY) swept the 200 freestyle.

Wagner's final 15 points came from the Seahawks freestyle relay teams as Menendez, Lauren Meyer (Hamden, CT), Kalibat and Sarah Plucinsky (Allentown, PA) took the gold, while the team of Carolin, Mary Courtney Ryan (Staten Island, NY), Lee, and Cooney finished seven seconds back for a second place finish.

“"By and large we were much better today,” Sowa said. “Folks made some great adjustments and in some instances we got a lot faster. We don't race again until the end of January so it is time to focus on what we have learned from this first semester of racing and carry that into the New Year."

The Seahawks will have a long holiday break from competition before heading into their next dual meet at the University of Rhode Island on January 22.