The Hamilton men’s and women’s swim and dive teams have both completed their final meets of the regular season, leaving less than two weeks to prepare for the upcoming NESCAC Championships.

The women’s team has performed exceptionally well in Bristol Pool this season, winning all three home dual meets against local opponents Utica College, SUNY New Paltz, and Union College. They also came in first place out of the ten teams who participated in the Hamilton Invitational Meet earlier in the season.

In their decisive Senior Day win over Union College on Wednesday, Jan. 23, Sadie Logan ’20 won both the 50-yard freestyle (25.48 seconds) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:00.12). Logan was part of the first-place 200-yard medley relay, along with Julia Martin ’21, Caroline Paulson ’21, and Karly Leiman ’22, which had a time of 1:54.15. Leiman was also a member of the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team, joined by fellow first-years Phoebe Parker ’22, Meredith Gioia ’22 and Kenzie Burton ’22 (1:45.35). Other successful finishes came from Lucy Hamann ’22, who won both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events, and Madeleine Lepesant ’19, who came in second in the 100-yard butterfly (1:01.66).

In their four NESCAC away meets, the women’s team has struggled a bit more. Most recently, the team traveled to

Middlebury College on Saturday, Jan. 26 and finished behind both the host team and nationally-ranked #6 Williams College in the meet.

There were still many standout individual performances from the Continentals at Middlebury. Martin won first place in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:10.25) and Logan came in second place in the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.46). Burton came in fourth overall in the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.52). Sarah Pickup ’19 also finished fourth in the 3-meter diving event with 194.19 points.

The men’s team is 1–3 in NESCAC meets after a 158–113 win at Wesleyan University on Saturday, Jan. 5, in which Hamilton swimmers won first place in ten separate events.

Some of the most impressive performances came from first-years on the team. Nick Wilkins ’22 finished first in three events: the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.11), the 50-yard breaststroke (28.27), and the 100-yard individual medley (55.99).

Sandro Mariani ’22 and Jack Sullivan ’22 finished first and second respectively in the 25-yard freestyle with times of 10.78 and 10.89 seconds. Mariani and Sullivan were also both part of a 100-yard freestyle relay team with veteran swimmers Jordan Allen ’19 and Jesse Bennett ’19. The relay team had a winning time of 42.53 seconds. Allen added yet another win for Hamilton in the 25-yard backstroke (12.99).

The men’s team has since finished with overall losing scores in their three other NESCAC meets against Colby College, Middlebury College and #19 Williams College. At the meet in Middlebury, VT, Wilkins took first place in both the 100-yard breaststroke (58.59) and the 100-yard individual medley (54.21). Bennett finished fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.73) and the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Allen, Mariani,Alexander Clark ’22 and Ben Cornaglia ’19 came in third place (1:32.66).

On Saturday, Feb. 2, both the men’s and women’s teams were defeated by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in their last regular season weekend of contests. Once again, the Continentals put up a tough fight. For the women’s team, Lepesant won the 200-yard butterfly (2:15.87), followed closely by teammate Burton (2:17.64). Hamann won the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.67) with Leiman coming in second (1:01.76). Patricia Shiebler ’21 came in first in the 1000-yard freestyle (11:22.33).

On the men’s team, Bennett finished first in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:27.03) and Ben Kaplan ’21 won the 200-yard butterfly (2:07.94). Clark and Wilkins both came in second in the 100-yard butterfly (55.71) and 200-yard individual medley (2:02.23) respectively.

After a long and grueling season of competition, the Continentals are looking to capitalize on their many strong individual talents to compete at the NESCAC Championships. The final meet of the season begins on Thursday, Feb. 14 when the women’s team heads to Wesleyan College, while the men’s team returns to Vermont to face Middlebury College.