The Elizabethtown College men’s swim team looks to rebound from losing their season-opening meet against York College (Pa.) on Saturday, Oct. 25.
In a 127-44 defeat at home, bright spots appeared for the Jays in first-year David Foery, who won the 100-yard freestyle, and placed second in the 200-yard event. He was the only event winner that day for Etown. For his runner-up performance in the 200-yard free, he earned a 1:55.21, and he was also a part of Etown’s 200-yard medley team that also finished in second place, where he swam the freestyle leg of that race as well. Sophomores Ramon Rios (backstroke), Kieran Koehler (breaststroke), and senior Frank Capria (fly), aided Foery in the medley that saw them make a time of 1:47.97. Capria was third in the 1000 free with a time of 11:23.98, while Koehler swam the third fastest time in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.93).
After a disappointing season in which the team collected only two wins in the entire term, coming against FDU-Florham and Drew University, the team will hope to make a splash in the Landmark Conference this season. Capria led the team in four events last season: the 500-yard freestyle (5:05.53), 1000 free (10:53.08), 1650 free (17:54.40) and 200 individual medley (2:11.74). He posted a career-best time in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.26) at the MAC Championships and placed 12th in the 1650 free.
Koehler qualified for the MAC Championships as well, in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, and the 50-yard free. He was Etown’s fastest swimmer in all three events last season and was the only Etown men’s swimmer to qualify for a final event at the MAC Championships in the 100-yard breaststroke, in which he placed seventh. Rios was the fastest men’s swimmer in the 100 and 200 backstroke last season and is one of five returning team members to have qualified for the 2014 MAC Championships.
Etown will host three more home duals in 2014-2015 season following this past Saturday’s opener against York. The Blue Jays will appear in the Alumni Pool against Drew University (Nov. 21), the University of Scranton (Dec. 6) and McDaniel College (Jan. 24). The Jays face a strong Susquehanna University team in the next meet, who placed second in the Landmark Conference Championship last season. The Susquehanna Crusaders won the Schweikert Relays on Oct. 18, winning seven of the nine events, and placing second in two others. The schools that participated in the meet, in addition to Susquehanna, were Goucher College, Lebanon Valley College and Lycoming College. It will be a tough test for the Blue Jay swimmers, but one that they will look to overcome, and capture an important early season victory.
