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BY TIMOTHY BERNSTEIN

In print | Published November 19, 2009

Despite some standout individual performances, the story on Saturday was the same for both the men’s and the women’s swim teams. Going up against a tough Franklin & Marshall squad in their own pool proved to be just as difficult as they had anticipated.

The men (1-2, 1-1 CC) fell short 117-88, while the women (2-1, 1-1 CC) were handed their first loss of the season with a 122-78 defeat.

Franklin & Marshall was able to better capitalize on the relay races with higher point totals, winning the medley and freestyle relays in both the men’s meet and the women’s meet.

Relay finishes weigh heavily on the final result of a meet: eleven points for first place, four for second and just two for third place. Individual events, on the other hand, are scored 9-4-3-2-1 for the top five places.

On the men’s side, in a contest annually regarded as each side’s biggest conference matchup of the season — Franklin & Marshall and Swarthmore finished 1-2 in the Centennial Conference last year — the Garnet got a boost from top finishes in the freestyle events. The Garnet outscored the Diplomats 58-37 in the freestyle events on the strength of four individual wins, including three by members of the squad’s strong crop of first-years.

Newcomers Jacob Benveniste ’13, Daniel Duncan ’13 and Josh Satre ’13 each brought home a win in the freestyle events. Satre opened with a win in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time 10:17.60, while Duncan touched first in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:48.00.

Benveniste finished with a time of 4:59.20 to take home the 500-yard freestyle title to add to his second-place finish in the 200.

The Garnet added another win when Tim Brevart ’12 won the 50-yard freestyle, coming in at 22.33 seconds.
The Garnet men kept pace with powerful Franklin & Marshall for the first half of the meet, holding a 44-30 lead after four events before suffering a letdown in the second sessions.

Brevart, while acknowledging that the loss was “heartbreaking,” attested to the high level of competition present whenever Swarthmore and Franklin & Marshall face off.

“The meet against F&M is always somewhat of a spectacle since they are considered to be our greatest competition within the conference,” Brevart said following the meet. “We will use the results from [the F&M meet] as an indication for how the post-season will shape up come [the Centennial Conference Championship].”

“We’re as happy as you can be when you lose to your biggest conference rival,” Travis Pollen ’12 said. “Obviously, going into the meet we thought we could win. And we swam as fast as we could have hoped to swim. [F&M was] just a little bit faster.”

The women were led by a pair of seasoned veterans against a deep Franklin & Marshall squad that finished second in the Centennial Conference last year. The women’s only victory came in 200-yard butterfly, when five-time All-American Anne Miller ’10 posted a 2:11.42 to lead a 1-2 finish for Swarthmore. Casey Osborn ’10 touched second in the race in 2:18.90.

Osborn also led the Garnet in the 200-yard individual medley, taking second in 2:19.24.

Despite the loss, the teams’ outlook remains positive. “F&M was a really good meet for us,” Laura Pond ’12 said. “A lot of people went season best or even lifetime best times. We swam really well, and they did too. And now we have something to prove when [the Centennial Conference Championships] roll around.” Pond posted the top time for Swarthmore in the 100-yard freestyle, touching in 59.92.

For the swimmers, however, a dual meet result is largely inconsequential in the quest for a win at the eight-team conference championship meet.

“This loss is only going to make us work that much harder to beat them when it really counts,” Pollen said.

For the men, the loss is the fourth in five years to F&M, whom they haven’t beaten since 2006.

The women have fared slightly better against them, having won two out of the past three years before last Saturday, but are now on a two-year losing streak.

The Garnet swim teams will host perennial powerhouse NYU on Saturday in both squads’ home opener at 2 p.m. before hosting conference rival Ursinus on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

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