Lady Bison defeat NC A&T; Hungerford Victorious
The Howard University men's and women's swimming and diving teams traveled down Tobacco Road to face-off against six CCSA teams on Saturday afternoon. Pitted against North Carolina A&T, Campbell, Liberty, Radford, Georgia Southern and host Davidson College, the Bison swam their best meet of the month, recording many season-best times in preparation for their final month of competition.
The Lady Bison left Davidson having recorded their second victory of the season, a 159-62 takedown of the Lady Aggies of North Carolina A&T. In the sole men's competition of the afternoon, the host Wildcats took down the Bison Men, 185-66.
"If we are going to ascend as a program, we need to continue to measure our progress compared to our conference," said Head Coach Matt Salerno. "Davidson is the conference champion for a reason and we need to strive to be as talented and efficient as them and the schools chasing them for the conference title."
The fireworks for the Bison men came from freshman Darell Hungerford (Clinton, MD.) Hungerford's great meet was ignited by his victory over the Wildcats in the 100 breaststroke with a time 1:01.91. Hungerford also turned in a season-best time in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:24.22, good for third place.
Hungerford was also part of the Bison's second place 400 freestyle relay that concluded the meet. Teamed-up with sophomore Zadok Isaacs (Cantaro Village, Trinidad and Tobago,) junior Steven Lott (Los Angeles, CA,) and senior Damjan Strbac (Zagreb, Croatia,) the Bison fired a time of 3:19.33 - their second best of the season.
Isaacs enjoyed a solid swim in the 200 backstroke, finishing in second place with a time of 2:03.15. Strbac had a great afternoon, as well, sparked by his season-best time in the 200 freestyle (1:52.09) and a third place finish in the 50 freestyle (23.03.)
For the Lady Bison, the numerous season-best swims were led by a quartet of underclassmen. Freshman Nandi Ross (Capital Heights, MD) had her finest meet as a member of the Bison. Ross claimed ninth place overall in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 11:59.78, dropping over 20 seconds from her original season best. She followed that performance with a 15th place finish in the 500 freestyle with a 5:52.70, shaving another eight seconds from her season-best. Soon thereafter, Ross' 200 IM time of 2:31.08 was another season-best and good for 16th.
Fellow freshmen Ashley Douglas (Missouri City, TX) and Janai Ederaine (Corona, CA) also swam season-best times on the afternoon. Douglas' 58.21 in the 100 freestyle was good for 15th place while Ederaine improved on her 200 freestyle time with a 2:08.38, good for 19th. Sophomore Summer Davis also had an excellent afternoon; her 2:25.46 in the 200 backstroke catapulted her into 15th place against the Bison's CCSA foes.
"The season is a marathon and we want to be swimming our best in late January and February," said Salerno. "Our team looks forward to reaching their fullest potential in the coming weeks and this meet was a step in the right direction to meet those goals."