Swimming & Diving Battles Seton Hall
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Howard University Men's and Women's swim teams traveled to East Orange, New Jersey on Friday evening to face the Seton Hall Pirates. The Bison amassed a spirited effort against the host Pirates, but fell just short of team victory. The women were defeated by Seton Hall by a score of 158-83 and the men dropped their contest 148-115.
"This was a marvelous performance by our team," said head coach Matt Salerno. "Our enthusiasm and competitive fire were the strongest they've been all season. They way our team fought despite being broken down physically speaks volumes about the direction this team is pointing itself in."
The Lady Bison turned in their finest races of the season behind the speed of freshman Chelsea Andrews. The rookie highlighted the evening's showdowns with a first place finish in the 100 freestyle. With tremendous closing speed, Andrews took charge of the race in the final few yards to win with a time of 54.04. Andrews nearly missed another first place finish in the 100 butterfly. Her 1:02.76 was just .03 seconds behind Natalie Toczlowski of Seton Hall for first place.
Seniors Alyssa Rogers had a terrific meet, as well. Rogers finished third in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes with times of 1:11.25 and 2:36.74, respectively. Fellow senior and co-captain Polo Edwards finished fourth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:37.30. The final race of the evening for the women was also their fastest. The 200 free relay saw the team's band of freshmen, E'lan Brewer, Cachanda Evans, Summer Davis and Andrews finish with a second place finish of 1:44.03, just .12 seconds from Seton Hall's winning relay.
On the men's slate, that same 200 freestyle relay provided fireworks to close the evening for the entire team. The Bison out-touched the Pirates with stellar performances by Damjan Strbac and seniors Miguel Orellana and Brad Worrell. The team's 1:29.59 was the team's first relay victory of the young season and capped a fantastic night of racing.
Prior to the finale, the men turned-in some fantastic races. Orellana's great season continued with another victory in the 200 freestyle, finishing with a time of 1:47.36. Orellana also touched in second place in the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.95 and third in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:54.55.
Other notable swims including Strbac's second place blitz in the 50 freestyle, finishing second with a 22.58. Sophomore Kelvin Goodman touched in the third with a 1:07.76 in his 100 breaststroke and Graham's fourth race of the evening saw him take third in the 100 free with a 48.78.
"There was a noticeable difference in our energy from last week," said Salerno. "This was a great night for our team and I know that we will take this momentum that we've created for ourselves and build on it for the months to come."
The Bison will be in action again on Friday, October 30th when the team travels across the District to face American University.