BY KEVIN FRIEDENBERG

In print | Published November 9, 2006

The Swarthmore men’s and women’s swim teams have started out their seasons in tremendous fashion, both starting 2-0 (1-0 CC) with wins over Widener and McDaniel.

The men took control of the scorecard 113-92 last Wednesday over Widener, with the women besting the Pioneers 124-73. The women left the Pioneers floundering after capturing nine of the first 10 races behind strong showings from Sarah Cotcamp ’07 and Franny Zhang ’08. First-year swimmer Anne Miller began her collegiate career for the Garnet in legendary fashion by snapping the school record for the 1,000-yard freestyle by almost two seconds, taking the title from alum Katherine Reid ’05.

“The team looks really great; everyone is really enthusiastic and ready to swim,” Miller said.

The evening’s display was an impressive birthday present for coach Sue Davis, who is entering her 32nd year at the helm of Swat swimming. The men’s meet against Widener was closer than the women’s, though the men had excellent swimming from Andrew Frampton ’08 and John Heagy ’08.

“Frampton has looked fabulous in both meets. It’s exciting to watch him swim,” Andrew Koczo ’07 said.

The Garnet men sealed the meet with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The meet against McDaniel on Saturday had similar results, with the Garnet women winning 117-95 while the men gave the Green Terror a pounding with a score of 146-87. Miller and Cotcamp kept up their strong pace by winning four events each in the meet, while Zhang and Allie Jordan ’09 added three wins each for the Garnet. Even though the meet was clinched after the 100-yard freestyle, with Cotcamp and Claire Shelden ’10 earning the top two slots, the women continued swimming the rest of the events in exhibition. For the men, Stephen Shymon ’09 won three events, and classmate Douglas Gilchrist-Scott ’09 took home two races as well.

“We returned a strong senior class,” team captain Heagy said. “We came in confident and a lot of guys came up big. We knew it was going to be close.”

The Garnet swimmers will take a week off before resuming conference matches against traditional Centennial giant Franklin & Marshall this Saturday at home at 2 p.m. The team then does not return to Ware Pool until Saturday, Dec. 3, against Dickinson.

“In the past we haven’t done as well against F&M, but the men’s lineup should be able to dominate them,” Miller said.

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