The swimming teams traveled to Greenville Saturday to take on interstate rival, East Carolina. While the men left town with a tough loss, the women posted a dramatic victory for their third win in a row. The loss left the men with a 1-6 record heading into the break, while the women sit one win away from .500 at 3-4.
With the score of the women's competition tied entering the final relay, the Blue Devils rested their hopes on the team of Jill Spitzfaden, Leslie King, Jennifer Lee and Jamie Fleming. Lee, a freshman freestyle standout, swam the anchor leg of the 4x100-yard freestyle event, edging out the Pirates' swimmer to secure the victory for Duke. She also won the 100 freestyle with one of her top times of the season.
The women were led by another strong effort from Amy Armond, who won both the 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:13.64 and the 200 individual medley in 2:08.65. Senior Heather Winter had her best showing of the young season, placing first in both the 200 breaststroke and the 200 butterfly. Not to be overlooked, sophomore Kristy Guenther won the diving competition with 240 points.
The win for the Blue Devils snapped a three-year losing streak against the Pirates.
"We were rested and real excited," Emily Voelker said of the rivalry. "Every year, it's a really close meet. The seniors, especially, really wanted to beat them."
In the men's meet, freshman Chris Fleizach dominated the 200 backstroke with a 1:55.86. Senior Mark Rotblat added an impressive victory in the 200 breaststroke, and the 4x100 freestyle relay of Clint McHugh, Brendan McGill, Jack Newhouse and Matt Lynch posted the team's only other win.
"Overall, we swam okay, but just okay," said Rotblat. "Our times were good, but slower than we had hoped."
The final score of 142-90 can, in part, be blamed on the team's small numbers.
"Having no divers put us behind 32 points before the meet even started," said Rotblat. "Going into the meet, we weren't really expecting a victory. We were just hoping to beat them in the pool."
The team now has a long break of intensive training before it resumes the ACC schedule in January. Shortly following Christmas, the team will travel to Fort Lauderdale for two weeks. The Blue Devils next competition won't come until Jan. 15, when they play host to a powerful Virginia squad.
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