The swimmers concluded their regular season this weekend by sweeping Davidson College Saturday.
The women defeated the Wildcats 147-82, while the men emerged victorious 137-75. The wins improve the women's team to 6-3 and the men's team to 5-4, giving the teams their first winning season since 1994 and 1995, respectively. The combined records mark the first time in his 23 years at Duke that coach Bob Thompson has had a winning season for both of his teams.
The women's team swept all 13 events against Davidson on their way to the win. Freshman Lauren Hancock led the women's team with a double win in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:27.02) and 200-yard butterfly (2:09.15). Freshman Amy Halligan was also a double winner, touching first in the 200-yard IM and 100-yard freestyle, with times of 2:09.55 and 54.60, respectively. Sophomore Kristina Koehler turned in a season best time to win her first individual event in college with a 2:10.66 in the 200-yard backstroke. Junior Jen Gauger also claimed her first individual win at Duke in the 200-yard freestyle.
"We're all really happy and excited about the season," said women's captain Liz Boswell. "We've worked really hard the whole year, and I think our record shows that. A year ago both teams lost to Davidson, and this year we won decisively from the very first event."
The men won 11 of the 13 events in their victory over the Wildcats. Freshman sprinter Conor O'Brien claimed first in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles, with times of 21.58 and 47.00, respectively. Freshman distance swimmer Travis French finished first in both the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle.
Freshman diver Doug Warner also performed well, sweeping the one-meter and three-meter diving events for the first time in his career.
"We had a much deeper team than Davidson this year," junior Chris Fleizach said. "We knew how important this meet was, so we came focused and prepared with a winning attitude."
This meet was the last of the regular season for seven seniors at Duke. Jack Newhouse, Brian Clark, Matt Lynch, Betsy Stewart, Boswell, Jen Lee and Kristy Guenther finished out their duel meet careers in splendid fashion with the win, and they now look forward to their last meet at the ACC Championships later this month. The ACC Championships will be hosted by Virginia in Charlottesville, where the women will compete Feb. 15-17 and the men will follow the subsequent weekend.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.