Metropolitan Swimming Conference: An Early Look So Far

By Seren Jones, Swimming World College Intern

BROOKVILLE – For the collegiate swimmers in the Metropolitan Swimming Conference, it’s that time of the year again: the morning alarms go off sooner, our bodies ache that little bit more, and chlorine becomes our permanent perfume or cologne.

But despite the protest of our tight muscles, and the numerous ice bags and heat packs that we consume, there is no better feeling than swimming fast, especially this early in the year. In fact, the top teams of the Conference – including the University of Bridgeport, The College Of New Jersey, LIU Post, and Southern Connecticut State University – have been doing so by clocking impressive times and performing gutsy swims. The exciting part? We’re only one month into the season…

Metropolitan Conference Teams

Adelphi University, Baruch College, College of Staten Island, Hunter College, Lehman College, LIU Post, Montclair State University, Mount St. Mary College, Pace University, Queens College, Ramapo College, Rowan University, Southern Connecticut State University, St. Francis College, SUNY Maritime College, The College of New Jersey, The College of St. Rose, University of Bridgeport, US Merchant Marine Academy, William Paterson University.

Quick Look At The Top Teams

LIU Post Pioneers

The women of LIU Post (3-1) are among the several teams in the Metropolitan Conference to commence the season with a bang. The Pioneers clocked a 1:37.04 in the 200 freestyle relay, placing them second in the nation. On Oct. 24, the foursome of Laura Bendfeldt, Courtney Delehanty, Joyce Kwok, and Meghan Brazier beat the University of Bridgeport by more than a second. The team’s relay victory contributed to the Pioneers’ success against the Purple Knights, concluding with a 117-82 defeat.

The Pioneers also succeeded to gain the NCAA B Cut qualification in the 200 medley relay by posting a time of 1:46.38. Johanna Pettersson, Erika Hultman, Kwok, and Brazier occupy first place in the conference and fifth place in the nation. Two-time NCAA 200 butterfly champion Joyce Kwok earned a B Cut in the 100 butterfly with a 56.16 to take first in the conference. Fellow teammate Seren Jones sits in second with a 59.69 respectively. The Pioneers also hosted dual meets against East Stroudsburg and Kutztown and swept both teams with final scores of 125-102 and 132-110.

Throughout their four dual meets the Pioneers have managed to pick up another couple of B Cuts: Kwok in the 200 butterfly with 2:06.54, and Brazier in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.53. The Pioneers get ready to take on Fordham University on Friday Nov. 14 in the Bronx, N.Y.

Bridgeport Purple Knights

The women of the University of Bridgeport (1-1) poses a threat to the Pioneers as the Purple Knights reign the middle distance and distance freestyle events. Alja Tavcar completed the 500 freestyle in 5:17.20 ahead of teammates Claudia Esteban, with 5:18.92 and Polina Melnikova, who came in with a time of 5:18.95. Melnikova is also second in the conference for the 1000. Her time of 11:08.04 puts her five seconds behind Southern Connecticut State University’s Sydney Fromkin, and 11 seconds ahead of LIU Post’s Poppy Hill.

Tavcar also reigns the conference in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:57.38, half a second ahead of LIU Post’s Bendfeldt. In the shorter freestyle events Tatiana Shepel continues to dominate the field after last season. The Purple Knight clocked a 24.02 in the 50, only 0.2 ahead of LIU Post’s Brazier and 0.5 ahead of Bendfeldt. Shepel is currently seventh in the nation and earned the NCAA B Cut.

The UB men’s team (1-0) is also making its mark as the Purple Knights rule the conference in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:24.78, giving second place – Rowan University – a six second fall. The swim – which took place at the Sonny Werblin Invitational at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J. – was just short of the NCAA B Cut of 1:23.81. The men currently occupy eighth place in the nation.

UB’s 200 medley relay is also first in the conference: Brian Kelly, Ivan Capan, Ruben Gimenez, and Didac Matsuyama hit the wall in a time of 1:34.04, narrowly followed by The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Lions in 1:35.57. Ivan Sangines and Albert Alemany take the top two positions in the conference in times of 4:39.18 and 4:47.59 respectively.

TCNJ’s Gajdzisz is currently third in 4:51.36, and The College of Saint Rose’s Mike Conley represents the Golden Knights in fourth place with a time of 4:53.18. Matsuyama also sits at the top of the table in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:42.28, just preceding TCNJ’s Ryan Gajdzisz (1:44.42) and Nesbitt (1:45.07.) The Purple Knights prepare to swim fast at the USMAA Invitational on Saturday Nov. 22 in Great Neck, N.Y.

The College of New Jersey Lions.

Despite the success of the Purple Knights, the DIII TCNJ Lions aren’t going down without a fight. In the 100 freestyle TCNJ’s Brett Pedersen sits at the top of the conference – alongside Bridgeport’s Gimenez – and posted the exact time as the 2014 NCAA champion (46.69) in a dual meet against Montclair State University. Chasing behind in fourth and fifth positions are TCNJ’s Andrew Nesbitt in 47.05, and Rowan’s Jesse Novak, in 47.36.

Both TCNJ men’s and women’s teams – as well as Merrimack College – took on Southern Connecticut State on Nov. 1 in New Haven, Conn. The men’s team (3-0) defeated the SCSU Owls with a final score of 153.5-126.5, but the Owls edged out the female Lions (2-1) with a 149.5-144.5 victory.

The male Lions started the meet with a comfortable win in the 200 medley relay, posting a time of 1:34.96. The time earned the Lions second place in the conference behind the Purple Knights (1:34.02,) and ahead of Rowan (1:38.02.) The College of New Jersey Lions featured James Shangle, who contributed to the team’s overall victory by winning three individual events and a relay.

In addition to the 200 medley relay, Shangle dominated the breaststroke events, completing the 100 in a time of 58.43, and the 200 in 2:09.79. He then returned to the blocks for the 200 individual medley, beating the pack with a 1:57.94. His 200 breaststroke swim earned Shangle first place in the conference table, while his 200 IM slots him in between Bridgeport’s Matsuyama (1:54.25) and Capan (1:58.82.) Brett Pedersen raked in the points in the dash events, winning both the 50 freestyle (21.58) and 100 freestyle (47.02.) Pedersen also contributed to the win of the 400 freestyle relay.

Pedersen, along with Nesbitt, Gajdzisz, and Scott Vitabile clocked a time of 3:10.86. The time confirms the first place rank of the team in the conference. Prior to the relay, Gajdzisz topped the field in the 500 in 4:41.34 earning second place in the conference. The female Lions were also successful in winning their share of events at the invitational. Summer Thomas grabbed first place in the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:00.58. Teammate Brenna Strollo took gold in both the 100 backstroke (1:01.90) and 100 butterfly (1:01.93) respectively.

The Lions finished strong with a seven second win in the 400 freestyle relay. The party of Thomas, Allison Huber, Emily Rothstein, and Lauren Rothstein gave the team the top ranking in the conference with a time of 3:42.54, ahead of Saint Rose and Rowan. The Lions will return to the pool to host New York University on Saturday Nov. 15 in Ewing Township, N.J.

Southern Connecticut Owls

The female Owls (1-1) commenced their home opener against TCNJ Lions and Merrimack College with a victory in the 200 medley relay. Rachel Smolensky, Courtney Silva, Lilly Martin, and Katherine Crochet placed third in the conference (1:53.63) ahead of Rowan (1:54.59) and TCNJ (1.54.73.) SCSU displayed depth in both the sprint and distance events.

The Owls dominated the 1000 with a one-two finish from Fromkin (11:03.06) and Kayla Laydon (11:26.38.) In the 50 dash Crochet came out on top with a 24.84, placing her joint sixth in the conference with LIU Post’s Courtney Delehanty. Crochet also took the 100 freestyle title in a time of 54.48 ahead of teammate Katherine Krajcik who clocked a 55:41. Silva took the gold in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:11.62. The time earned Silva a top ten spot in the conference behind the likes of LIU Post’s Annina Rademacher (1:07.43) and Erika Hultman (1:09.35;) William Patterson’s Vera Blazevska (1:10.80;) Bridgeport’s Shannon Bolt (1:11.29;) and Montclair State’s Kristen Werner (1:11.30.) On Nov. 7, the Owls hosted and fell short to Yale University.

The women grabbed the top spot in the 200 freestyle relay in a time of 1:43.90 thanks to Christina Lavery, Krajcik, Smolensky and Crochet. Silva grabbed first in the 200 IM in a time of 2:19.93, as well as the 200 butterfly in 2:15.36. Fellow fly swimmer Aubrey Bailey stole the 100 in a time of 1:01.31, ahead of teammates Lavery (1.05:83) and Smolensky (1:07.14.) The Owls also dominated the 500 freestyle event, sweeping positions from first to third place. Krajcik took first in 5:30.23, only four seconds ahead of Martin (5:34.08) who was followed by Laydon (5:46.95.)

Despite their tremendous efforts against TCNJ, the male Owls (0-2) failed to follow the example of their women’s team. The men came in with a time of 1:38.64 in the 200 medley relay, placing the Owls fourth in the conference. Louis Geist swam his way to victory in the 1000 finishing in 9:44.07, ahead of teammate Daniel Gallup who placed third in 10:16.70. Geist’s time puts him at the top of the conference table, seconds ahead of TCNJ’s runner-up Gajdzisz (10:08.56.)

Christian Berg stole the spotlight as he took first place in the backstroke events: the 100 swam in 52.05 while clocking a 1:51.12 in the 200. Both events put Berg at the top of the conference table, just ahead of Bridgeport’s Matsuyama (52.85 and 1:56.72.) The 200 butterfly saw the Owls finish one-two as Dylan Swanepoel and Geist finished the race in times of 1:56.12 and 1:58.08, also slotting them at the top of the conference. The men also fell to the Ivy League institution of Yale University.

In spite of their loss, the Owls were victorious in the 500 freestyle event with Geist snatching gold in 4:46.33, Swanepoel grabbing second in 4:47.11, and Marco Minnocci earning third in a time of 5:24.52. A trio of Owls also finished top three in the 200 IM. Brandon Beaudoin touched first in a time of 2:01.02, followed by Tyler Vander Vos in 2.04:20, and finally Liam Coleman in 2.09:59. The foursome of Raymond Snyder, Jared Thurston, James Vaz, and Travis Burke grabbed gold in the 200 freestyle relay in a time of 1:30.30. The Owls will return to action on Saturday Nov. 22 in Kings Point, N.Y. as they compete in the USMMA Invite alongside the Bridgeport Purple Knights.

The first official month of racing has proved promising for the teams of the Metropolitan Conference. With the countdown to METs already underway, we can only imagine the amplitude of waves that will be created at Rutgers University in only four months time.

Seren Jones is a junior butterfly/backstroker from Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. The Metropolitan Conference individual champion grew up swimming for The City of Cardiff Swimming Club, and qualified for the Great Britain Olympic Trials in 2012.

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Morgan Jones

9 years ago

SEREN YOU SUPERSTAR!!! Good job babes!

Theresa Mgadzah Jones

9 years ago

Excellent start Seren, looking forward to reading more of your work.

Wendy D

9 years ago

Great start to the season! Looking forward to keeping up to date the MET Conference!

Ernest Hemingway

9 years ago

Great article !