Washington, D.C., November 1, 2014 – The Men and Women Dragons of Drexel University each came away with a win after visiting the George Washington University (GW) Colonels at Mount Vernon pool yesterday. The Drexel men won with a comfortable point differential – Drexel 162, GW 123. However, the Drexel women’s battle was significantly closer, as they edged out GW by just ten points, winning 154.5 to GW’s 144.5.
Women’s Meet
Drexel battled against GW over the course of the entire meet, relying on its multiple-event-Lady Dragons to come through with much-needed points to keep the competition close. This included diving, where Drexel swept both the 1-meter and the 3-meter competitions. Drexel divers Madison Kramer, Jaclyn Goulet, and Brittany Seibert finished 1-2-3 in both diving events, with Kramer earning her best score of the season on the 1-meter.
Within the swimming events, Lady Dragon freshman Miranda Rouse contributed to the team scoring by winning both distance freestyle races. Her 10:36.41 was the top time in 1000 freestyle and she followed that up with a swift 5:11.51 in the 500 freestyle event. Teammate Aubrey Murray clocked the winning 200 freestyle time (1:55.34) and added to the team points by touching the wall first in the 100 freestyle in 53.65.
Drexel swimmer Rachel Bernhardt (sophomore) swept the breaststroke events, earning the 100 win in 1:05.89 and topping the 200 field in 2:23.07. Bernhardt also clocked the fastest time in the 50 free, getting the top spot in 24.51. The backstroke events were split between two Drexel teammates – Katie Duggan earned her first individual win of the season in the 100 with a time of 59.58 (the only swimmer under the 1:00 mark), while Gillian Gress won the 200 distance in 2:05.85.
Although the Drexel women earned victories in nine individual swimming events, the depth of the GW butterfly swimmers bagged some major points for the Colonels to keep the close. GW swept both the 200 butterfly and the 100 butterfly events, coming away with 32 points just over those two races. The Lady Colonels of Carly Whitmer, Lauren Law, and Bianca Valencia finished in the top three spots in times of 2:08.26, 2:11.47, and 2:11.90, respectively. Two of these ladies were repeat point earners in the 100 butterfly distance, as Whitmer clocked a 57.93 for first and Valencia came in third once again in 59.89. Morgan Zebley finished in second place with a time of 58.24.
A thrilling tie in the 400 freestyle relay exemplified how close this overall competition was on the women’s side. The GW foursome of Maggie Hofstadter, Morgan Zebley, Lauren Law, and Hannah Kopydlowski finished in the exact same time – 3:38.18 – as the Drexel Lady Dragon relay team of Claudia Duguay, Sara Golshahr, Katie Duggan, and Aubrey Murray. Both anchors closed out their legs in sub-54 splits; Kopyalowski in 53.98 and Murray in 53.64.
Men’s Meet
With no divers listed on the George Washington Colonels’ roster, Drexel cleaned up on both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. Simon Carne, Anthony Cirelli, and Reed Vennel finished 1-2-3 in each diving competition to bank some mega points on the side of the Dragons.
However, GW did inflict some damage on the swimming side with wins in several events. Bloomington, IL native, freshman Adam Drury swam to first place in the 200 freestyle event in a time of 1:44.24. Teammates Gustav Hokfelt (freshman from Sweden), Goran Koprivnjak (senior hailing from Croatia), and Adam Rabe (senior) added points to the board as well. Hokfelt came away with the 200 backstroke win in a time of 1:57.63, while Koprivnjak earned the 100 freestyle win by touching in 47.24. Rabe had the top time in the 200 breaststroke field, winning in 2:07.88.
Drexel Junior Joel Berryman (New Zealand) was a key factor contributing to the Dragon team point accumulation, earning wins in the 100 backstroke (51.58), 50 freestyle (21.63). Berryman also raked in points coming in second in the 100 free with the only other sub-48 time of 47.88.
The Drexel Dragons next play host to Binghamton at home on November 8th, while the George Washington Colonels move on to Towson on that same date for their next competition.
Someone’s been waiting their whole career to use that title