TROY, N.Y. – The Saint Michael’s College men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams returned from nearly a two-month layoff by both falling to The College of Saint Rose on Monday at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s (RPI) Robison Poll. The 1-3 men lost by a 158-99 final to the 7-3 Golden Knights, while the Purple Knights’ 3-2 women dropped a 148-136 decision to Saint Rose, which improved to 6-4. The Purple and Gold had last competed on Nov. 21.
Senior Julie Shea (Peabody, Mass./Peabody Veterans Memorial/Assumption) and junior Lindsay McNall (Colchester, Vt./Colchester) both won three events, with Shea appearing in her first action of the season after missing the opening semester due to ailments. The duo combined with first-year Patty Kohn(Weston, Conn./Greenwich) on a pair of relay victories, with sophomore Sammy Sidorakis (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker)swimming a leg for a 400-yard relay quartet that clocked in at 3:56.39, and classmate Theresa Murphy (Pittsfield, Mass./Pittsfield) completed a portion of the 200-yard medley relay, which the Purple Knights won in 1:56.34.
Shea was also triumphant in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:10.82 while taking third in the 200 breast, and McNall topped the 200-yard backstroke field in 2:11.76 while finishing as the runner-up in the 200-yard butterfly. Sidorakis was second in the 100 back and third in the 200 back, and Kohn took third in the 200 free, coming within 0.05 seconds of second. Sophomore Genevieve Gigandet (Groveland, Mass./Central Catholic) placed second in the one- and three-meter dives.
First-year Tess Grimaldi‘s (Higganum, Conn./Haddam-Killingworth) pair of third-place showings came in the 50 and 100 free events, as she was within 0.32 seconds of second place in the 100, and senior Luci Franklin (Steamboat Springs, Colo./Lowell Whiteman School) nabbed third in both the 100 back and 200-yard individual medley. First-year Shannon Kelley (Jefferson, Mass./Wachusett Regional) finished second in the 100 fly, and classmate Allison Plummer(Bath, Maine/Morse) corralled a third-place performance during the 100 breast.
Sophomore Zach Kosakowski (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) and first-years Benjamin Guilmette (East Longmeadow, Mass./East Longmeadow) and Ryan Kirkpatrick (Hebron, Conn./RHAM) all paced the men with three runner-up finishes, including while siding with first-year Pat Thornton (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence) for a second-place 200 medley relay showing. Guilmette and Kirkpatrick joined junior Ryan Butler (Waltham, Mass./Waltham) and sophomoreJoe Carroll (Andover, Mass./Andover) for a second-place finish in the 400 free relay.
During solo events, Kosakowski was second in the 100 back and 200 IM as well as third in the 200 back, with Carroll third in the former. Kirkpatrick placed second in the 50 free – 0.09 seconds ahead of the third-place Guilmette – and third in the 100 free, Guilmette took third in the 100 breast, and Thornton was second during the 1,000 free and third in both the 100 fly and 500 free races.
The Purple Knights remain on the road on Wednesday, visiting Bentley University at 3 p.m.
Swimming news courtesy of Saint Michael’s Swimming & Diving.