Towson concludes regular season
By: Karuga Koinange, Staff Writer
Towson concluded its regular season Sunday by competing in the 2017 Janis Hape Dowd Carolina College Nike Invitational and the Duke Dog Diving Invitational.
The competitions took place at Taishoff Aquatic Pavilion on Duke’s campuse and Savage Natatorium on James Madison’s, respectively.
On the first day of competition, freshman Matt Essing impressed in the 50-yard freestyle finals. He finished 14th overall with a time of 21.23. His time of 20.84 in the morning prelims set a freshman school record.
Sophomore Andrew Snyder also performed well, finishing second in the 500-yard freestyle ‘C’ finals and 18th overall with a time of 4:39.88.
On the women’s side, 10 swimmers qualified for the evening finals on the first day of competition.
The Tigers placed fifth and sixth in the 500-yard freestyle finals. Freshman Rachel Hoban timed 5:03.30 to place fifth, and sophomore Rhyann Lowrey finished sixth with a time of 5:07.24.
Freshman Megan Cowan placed 14th in the 200-yard individual medley ‘A’ finals with a time of 2:07.79, and sophomore Tara Goss placed 15th with a time of 2:07.85.
On the second day of competition, the men’s team qualified two swimmers for the evening finals.
Sophomore Richard Keller finished seventh in the 400-yard individual medley finals with a season-best time of 3:58:93. Fellow sophomore Andrew Snyder timed 4:08.62 to finished 13th in the event.
On the women’s side, the team qualified nine swimmers for the evening finals. All nine qualifying swimmers improved on their morning qualifying times in the event finals.
Towson impressed in the 400-yard individual medley, qualifying five for the evening finals. Sophomore Tasha Reidenbach led Towson, finishing in fifth with a time of 4:29.44.
Two Tigers competed in the 100-yard butterfly finals as Goss timed 56.92 for and placed 10th while Cowen placed 11th with a season-best time of 57.07.
Towson finished strong on the final day of competition as the men’s team had four members compete in the evening finals at the Nike Invitational.
Essing qualified for the 100-yard freestyle ‘C’ finals with a season-best time of 46.42. He finished 22nd overall in the 100-yard freestyle final with a time of 47.23.
Keller placed eighth in the 200-yard butterfly ‘A’ finals with a time of 1:52.88 and junior Spencer Franklin placed 11th with a season-best time of 1:55.11.
The women’s team finished their regular season strong as they had nine members compete in evening finals.
Sophomore Ali Holm took third in the 200-yard breaststroke ‘B’ finals, placing 11th with a season-best time of 2:26.52, and sophomore Caroline Batista placed 13th with a season-best time of 2:27.39.
Sophomore Ryan Ulrich finished second in the 100-yard freestyle ‘C’ finals and 18th overall with a season-best time of 52.72.
The Tigers will take some time off before traveling to the Christiansburg Aquatic Center to begin postseason action with the 2017 CAA Swimming & Diving Championships Feb. 22-25.
(Editor’s note: Jake Shrum could not be reached for comment.)
