UConn men's swimming and diving falls to Army

In their its dual match of the season, the UConn men’s swimming and diving team fell to Army this weekend, bringing its record to 2-1 so far this season.

On Friday, the Huskies traveled to West Point, N.Y. to face the Army Black Knights, falling short by a score of 167.5-132.5. In spite of the loss, the team had much success in the swimming events.

Freshman Michael Lennon, sophomore Lachezar Shumkov, and senior Kyungsoo Yoon each achieved victories in two of their events, providing the bulk of the strength for the team in the swimming events. In addition, junior Keith Piper and sophomore Sawyer Franz both won in backstroke events.

“Army is a great team to race,” said senior Nick Cerra. “They're the same caliber as us and it was exciting when races came down to the wire. Our teams are very similar in the fact that we never give up and are always hungry to win.”

In the swimming events, the Huskies bested the Black Knights in number of events won. Yoon finished first in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles with times of 20.78 seconds and 49.71 seconds, respectively. Shumkov also had strong performances, finishing first in the 100 and 200-yard breaststrokes with times of 58.08 seconds and 2:06.91, respectively. Lennon won in both the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle with times of 4:38.37 and 9:29.93, respectively.

Piper finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 52.29 seconds while Sawyer finished first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:52.56. In addition, junior Sean Battle and seniors Joe Glowacki and Cerra placed high in swimming events as well.

“I felt that my performance was good,” said Cerra. “I dropped some time from the previous dual meet so I know that I am progressing in the right direction.”

In the two diving events, the Huskies did not find as much success. The team had freshman John Brice and junior Tony Cortright finish second and fourth in the three-meter dive, respectively, which amounted to the team’s strongest performance in the diving events. The two also competed in the one-meter dive, with Brice finishing fourth and Cortright finishing fifth.

After this weekend’s loss, the Huskies are looking to get back on track by taking their talent to the Big East Quad Meet, hosted in New Brunswick, N.J. The team will compete against Rutgers, Villanova and Georgetown on Friday and Saturday.

“I feel that the team's performance overall shows that we are getting better each week,” Cerra said. “This group of individuals is going to do big things this year.”