On Senior Day in Durham, the men’s swimming and diving team started with a win in the 200-yard medley relay but could not muster many more victories.
Both the men’s (3-7, 0-4 in the ACC) and women’s (3-7, 0-4) team fell to clearly superior Maryland squads, and both Duke teams returned the following day, only to lose to UNC-Wilmington.
The Duke and Maryland coaches agreed to shorten the distance of many of the races because both squads had to race in more competitive meets the following day. The Blue Devils’ team of David Peck, Kevin Arthofer, John Humphrey and Billy Pierce won their shortened relay, a distance assistant coach Lauren Hancock said they preferred.
“It was a pretty good time,” Peck said. “We don’t usually swim that format. And if you start everything off well it helps out.”
With both the men’s and women’s squads battling sickness throughout the previous week, the early lift from the relay was not nearly enough. Humphrey and Arthofer still managed to win the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively. Peck, who swam his best time of the season, was second in the 100-yard backstroke. Tim Hyer won the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, but Duke still lost 144-96.
“We posted times much better than the weekend prior,” Hancock said. “It was just a much better meet.”
Maryland’s women were even stronger than their male counterparts, and the No. 12 Terps topped the Blue Devils 180-63 as the home team only won 1-of-13 races.
Duke returned to the pool Saturday in Wilmington expecting to be more competitive, but the Seahawks won 17-of-26 events and beat both the Blue Devils’ men’s and women’s teams.
Katie Ness, Nora Stupp and Michelle Aristeo all won their races on the women’s side, while Teddy Heffers, Humphrey, Peck and Arthofer each picked up wins for the men.
“It was somewhat disappointing, but a lot of them had tapered for the meet,” Peck said. “It was their Senior Day, and we were worn down.”
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