READING, Pa. – Competing for the second time in as many days, the Ursinus College swimming teams shirked the fatigue and rolled to a pair of comfortable victories at Albright on Saturday.
Sophomores Casey Lear and Jacob Menzer spearheaded the efforts of the men's team, each capturing a pair of personal victories and teaming up to form half of the victorious 400 free relay squad.
Lear earned top billing in the freestyle sprints, completing the 100 in 48.54 and the 200 in a time of 1:47.32. Sophomore Jared Krawetz finished second in the former, and junior Daniel Becker did so in the latter.
Menzer, meanwhile, handled the distance races with ease. The sophomore won the 400 IM by more than six seconds with his time of 4:19.01, and edged Albright's Teag Culver with a mark of 4:48.86 in the 500 free.
Junior Travis Venables collected a win in the 50 free with a time of 22.26, and freshman Michael Prior grabbed the 200 back in 2:01.52.
Menzer and Lear closed the proceedings by joining senior Colin McNamara and Krawetz for a first-place prize in the 400 free relay (3:18.23).
Albright actually won five of the nine individual events on the women's side, but the Bears (8-0) dominated both relays and owned the podium in several of the individual races they did win to secure a comfortable margin of victory.
Freshman Sophie May was followed by senior Olivia Tierney, junior Peyten Lyons, and junior Clara Baker in an opening 400 medley relay victory with a time of 4:11.16 for Ursinus.
Following Lions victories in the 1000 free, 200 free, and 50 free, freshman Allison Thomas got the Bears back on track by headlining a 1-2-3 finish in the 400 IM. Her time of 4:57.61 was good for first place, and she was succeeded by fellow rookies Katelyn Moore (5:01.98) and Rebecca Warren (5:04.87) in an Ursinus sweep.
Ursinus came right back with another clean sweep in the 200 fly. Senior Meggie Leitz was the winner at 2:10.36, with Baker and senior Katherine Porter in second and third, respectively.
Freshman Madison McHugh took home top billing in the 100 free, touching the wall in 58.33.
The Bears' surge continued with another 1-2-3 effort in the 200 back, where freshman Katherine Kurzinsky was first to finish in 2:16.07. Senior Rachel Weil was second and junior Gabriella Timuscuk placed third.
After Albright captured the 500 free and 200 breast, Ursinus' all-freshman quartet of May, Kurzinsky, Thomas, and Warren nipped their elder teammates in the most exciting race of the day. The Bears' rookie relay unit touched the wall in the 400 free relay in 3:46.04, just two hundredths of a second ahead of Gundersen, Leitz, sophomore Margrethe Leis, and Porter.
Five Ursinus swimmers posted runner-up finishes in various freestyle events – Gundersen in the 1000, sophomore Margrethe Leis in the 500, junior Katherine Madden in the 200, and Lyons in the 50.
The swimming teams are next in action at Villanova on Saturday, January 20.