Hopta and Svoboda Set More Records at W&M
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Freshmen Stephen Hopta and Sophie Svoboda both set school records Saturday as the VMI swimming team traveled to the College of William & Mary. The Tribe defeated the VMI men 193-66 and the women 204-46.
Hopta, a two-time America East Male Swimmer of the Week, broke the freshman and school record in the 1,650 freestyle in 16:27.31. He shattered the old mark of 16:40.89, set by Matt Johnson in 2014. He also placed fifth in the 100-yard butterfly in 54.61. Svoboda finished fourth in the 100-backstroke in 59.34 to break her own school and rat (freshman) records, and took fifth place in the 50-free (25.16) and the 500-free (5:32.22).
The men's 200-yard medley relay team of Jacob Smilie, Ryan Cooper, Ryan Schmitz and Brady Gannon finished in 1:39.79 to place fifth, while the 400-freestyle team of Gannon, Nick Palmieri, Hopta and Schmitz was third in 3:16.40.
Cooper took third in the 200-breaststroke in 2:16.68 and fourth in the 200-IM in 2:04.02. The Keydets had several fourth-place finishes; including William Soldow in the 100-breast (1:04.21), Gannon in the 50-free (21.96), Palmieri in the 100-free (48.98) and Thomas Muldowney in the 500-free (5:03.82). Anno Kong was fifth in the 100 and 200-back in 54.72 and 1:59.34, respectively. Smilie took fifth in the 200-free in 1:49.98 and Andrew Mills was fifth in the 200-fly in 2:05.31.
Morgan Davis had three fifth-place finishes; in the women's 100-free (57.33), the 200-fly (2:17.46) and the 100 fly (1:03.94). AnnaMarie Neitte-Garcia finished fourth in the 100-breaststroke in 1:20.19, fourth in the 200-IM in 2:36.10 and fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:58.61.
Sarah MacDougall completed the 200-yard freestyle in 2:08.06 for fifth place. Carisa Kunkle swam a 2:33.88 in the 200-yard backstroke, and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Svoboda, MacDougall, Davis and Calle Biles finished third in 3:51.06.
“I was quite happy with our performance today,” said head coach Andrew Bretscher. “We swam strong and kept our composure against a very talented William and Mary squad. We saw a lot of improvement in different events, which is what we want heading into the AEC's in under three weeks.”
The VMI divers will compete Friday at the Liberty University Diving Invitational, hitting the water at 11 a.m.
