Acorn

Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Charlotte Hammond Nelson Melendez ('11) is one of the five freshmen on the men's swimming team, who will get back into action on January 12 at King's College.

The Drew University swimming teams are not living in the present. It is the nature of the sport to develop young swimmers for the future of the team¬-thus the women's team's loss last weekend at Misericordia University is not a cause for misery.

"We can lose right now and still win our conference title," captain Beth Crockford-Peters ('08). "The fact that we're so close-knit as a group and the way that the less experienced members of the team are coming along is so much more important than beating teams at the moment."

The teams traveled just over the Pennsylvania state line on Saturday in the hopes of continuing their development. The men's team remained anchored, as has become the norm, by captain Andrew Cronholm ('08). Adding two more race victories to his impressive ledger, Cronholm continues to prove himself as one of the team's figureheads. On Saturday, he again won the 1000-meter freestyle decisively with his time of 10:55.59, besting the second-place competitor by almost 30 seconds. He also stepped in and won the 200-meter breaststroke in an impressive time of 2:30.65. Drew's up-and-coming talent had an excellent day as well as Tim Charpie took a second in the 200 butterfly, in a time of 2:46.81, and a third in the 500 freestyle, in 6:12.87. Ryosuke Kuroki ('08) lost a close race in the 100-meter breaststroke, as his time of 1:13.05 fell just shy of the winning mark. While the overall results had the Rangers falling 152-83, the future of the team continues its upwards progression.

The women's team dropped a 144-104 decision to the Cougars, but the positives far outweighed the negatives for the Rangers. A number of near-misses, while dooming Drew to defeat, presented results that captains Crockford-Peters and Kellie Joyce ('08) finished 2-3 in the 1,000 freestyle, finishing in times of 12:32.43 and 12:53.99, respectively. Selena Davis ('10) garnered a second in the 100 backstroke in an excellent time of 1:10.20. Grace Landaw ('11) placed third in the 100 breaststroke, as her time of 1:20.56 was less than four seconds behind the victor. Alexssa Todd ('10) had an even closer call in the 50 freestyle sprint as her 27.91 time was beaten by only half a second. The lone Ranger women's victory of the day came in the 100 butterfly, as Todd, Sofia Quintanar ('11) and Amie Ferriero ('09) swept the top three spots.

Both teams are in high spirits heading into the winter break. Both the men and women will return to the Forest early, as their season gets into full swing on Jan. 12 in a dual meet against King's College and Landmark Conference rival Susquehanna University.

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