EMMITSBURG, Md. (October 23, 2021) – The strong start to the 2021-22 season for Mount St. Mary's swimming & diving carried over to the team's home contest. Several team records toppled as the Mount took the dual meet with VMI – the women winning 204-91 and the men winning 184-114.
Out of the 32 events contested on Saturday, the Mountaineers finished first in 24 of them. Five events saw Mount swimmers in the top three positions.
Competing in their meter length pool, 11 team records were shattered during the meet.
Kira Buchler,
Jason Fitch,
Peter Jones,
Nicholas Santorelli and
Aidan Grady broke two records each. Buchler won the 100 meter (1:04.69) and 200 meter (2:21.88) backstrokes, as did Fitch with times of 58.94 in the 100 and 2:14.44 in the 200. Jones earned his mark in the 50 and 100 meter freestyle events, while Santorelli secured his times in the 400 and 800 freestyles. Grady once again dominated the breaststroke, anchoring a 1:03.12 in the 100 meter and 2:21.23 for the 200 meter.
Relays also favored the home team, as the Mount captured all four races. The men's 200 meter medley quartet of
Jonathan Mata, Grady,
Thomas deXavier and Jones set a new team record, racing the event in 1:46.04. Combined with a second-place time of 1:47.80, the event set the tone and garnered the momentum to help the Mountaineers take the meet.
Four times either tied or broke records for the ARCC Swimming Pool, including both of Grady's breaststroke marks.
For the Mount women, they continued their dominance over the Keydets, earning a 17
th win against no defeats. Saturday's win also marked the second-ever against VMI for the men, and their first victory as a unit since beating Howard in November 2018.
Both teams now standing at 1-0, Mount St. Mary's looks ahead to a pair of dual meets in New York next weekend. The Mountaineers face St. Francis Brooklyn on Friday and Wagner on Saturday.
