The men's and women's swimming teams let out some finals frustration Saturday at the Duke Aquatic Center.
The men's team defeated Eastern Carolina University 132.5-108.5 to capture its first win of the season, while the women were defeated 138-102. The women are now 2-3 and the men are 1-4.
"It's amazing what a little rest can do," head coach Bob Thompson said after the meet. The coach eliminated morning workouts a week prior to the meet to allow the swimmers to rest up for the meet and for finals.
Impressive swims by members of both the men's and the women's teams kept spirits up on the pool deck. Freshman Leslie King won both the 1,000-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. Her 1,000 freestyle was a mere four seconds away from the Junior National standard and a personal best.
Junior Sue Kresel won the 200-yard freestyle and achieved a personal best time in the event.
"After I saw Leslie swim so well, I was so fired up to do well also," Kresel said.
Senior co-captain Heather Reger won both the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard breaststroke.
The Duke men gathered their first win with more than a handful of tremendous swims. Sophomore Marshall Preston placed second in the 200-yard backstroke with a season best time.
Sophomore David Tonini placed third in the same event, only eight-tenths of a second behind Preston. Senior co-captain Thayer Thompson triumphed in the 200-yard butterfly in a time of 1:58.91 while sophomore Paul Bamert came in one one-hundredth of a second behind Thompson placing second at 1:58.92.
Freshmen freestylers Chris Wise, Sean Feeney and Andrew Moore placed first, second and third in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Junior Phil Borden captured the 100-yard freestyle and senior Peter Mackrill won both diving events.
"We're just getting better and better as we go along," freshman Alex Thomas said. "[ECU has] beaten teams who have beaten us."
Both teams will be making camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., come Dec. 27. The teams will spend 11 days training at the Swimming Hall of Fame pool.
"This team has pulled together so well," Kresel said. "It's going to be really impressive to see what happens in Florida."
And while the swimmers are not looking forward to spending time away from their families, they are looking forward to the trip to Florida.
"We all get along really well," Thomas said. "It's like being a part of a big family. I have a feeling we are all going to do really well at ACCs."
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