The Pride men’s and women’s swim teams split a double dual meet at Hollins on Saturday afternoon. The women’s squad beat Gallaudet 68-27 and lost to host Hollins 48-47. The men’s team also beat Gallaudet 63-26, to earn the second dual victory in school history, but fell to Hampden-Sydney 62-33.
On the women’s side, freshman Regina Robertson had another top ten all-time performance, this time in the 100 freestyle, winning the event with a time of 00:58.71. Robertson also won the 50 free in a time of 26.44.
In Dani Horne’s only individual event, she took first in the 100 back with a winning time of 1:06.77. Erin Gard gathered a second place finish in the 1,000 free in a time of 11:56.74, which ranks fourth all-time for The Pride. Her third-place finish in the 100 breast in 1:17.51 now ranks her seventh in all-time for The Pride.
Taylor White scored a second-place finish in the 200 free, with a tenth all-time best mark of 2:14.07. The Pride won both relays, with Dani Horne, Lauren Fisher, Sierra Zentz, and Madison Peregoy winning the 200 medley in 2:08.20. Horne with Taylor White, Gard, and Robertson won the 400 free relay in a time of 4:01.72, which beat the second place Gallaudet team by over 50 seconds.
On the men’s side, Justin Schmitz set school records while winning both the 100 back (1:01.14) and 200 free (1:57.84). Eddie Kirby improved his 1000 free team record with a first place finish of 11:48.76. Kirby also won the 200 IM with a 2:21.99. Ryan Hurd notched a victory in the 100 fly with 1:07.41 and took second in the 500 free with a 6:23.24.
“We had some great early season swims,” said Scot Budde. “Both men’s and women’s teams have a great season outlook, and both teams know what is ahead of them if everyone continues to work hard together. It is a tremendous accomplishment for the men’s team to win their second meet in program history, but all of our swimmers know that this combined program has tremendous potential. Hopefully, the narrow loss by the women to Hollins and closer meet for the men against Hampton-Sydney will be motivating factors for the rest of the season.”