2010-11 Men's Swimming Preview
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - After inching closer than ever to a Centennial Conference Championship last season, the 2010-11 Swarthmore College men's swimming squad hopes to take the next step and net its first-ever Centennial Conference championship this year.
The 2009-10 Garnet got within 100 points of champion Franklin and Marshall and medaled eight times at the Conference Championship meet, finishing second overall for the fourth consecutive season. With head coach Sue Davis on sabbatical for the beginning of her 27th season, assistant coach and interim head coach Casmera Wick will take the reigns with hopes of picking up where Davis left off.
Senior Sterling Satterfield is poised to take over as the breaststroker to beat in the Centennial Conference this year after the graduation of F&M's Tom Grabiak. Satterfield earned a silver and bronze in the individual breaststroke events at last year's Championships, as well as a bronze for his role on the 200 medley relay. Timothy Brevart '12, Roger Chin '13, and Samuel Bullard-Sisken '12 rounded out the medal-winning relay in strong fashion -- Bullard-Sisken also won a bronze in the 100 backstroke, while Brevart and Chin posted some of the season's top times in sprint freestyle and backstroke events, respectively. The Garnet had another multiple medal-winner in Jake Benveniste '13, who took bronze in the 500 freestyle and silver in the 1650 free in a school-record time of 16:21.25.
Also returning are several key players from last year's run, including breaststroker Lance Liu '12, who made the finals in the 100 and 200 at last year's Championships and turned in the team's second-fastest performances of the season in both distances. Tyler Hanson and Charlie Hepper '13, last year's silver and bronze medalists in the 400 individual medley, return looking to build off strong freshman seasons. Their proven talents, along with those of Daniel Duncan '13 and Dante Fuoco '12, both of whom joined Hanson and Hepper in the 400 IM final, should give the Garnet great depth in relays as well as in individual events. Eleven round out Coach Davis' 2010-11 freshmen class.
Travis Pollen '12 remains someone to watch on the Swarthmore athletic scene as well as on a national level. An above-knee amputee, Pollen is the reigning national champion in the S9 class in the 50 freestyle. He set the American record in the 100 freestyle (54.80) for his class at the Centennial Championships last year and will be sure to make a splash there again in his junior season.
The season begins in front of a home crowd with three meets at the College's Ware Pool, starting with a November 3rd "320 Challenge" meet with local rival Widener at 6:00 p.m. The second annual Swarthmore Invitational is set for December 3-4, where the Garnet will look to defend its victory in the inaugural event. The first Centennial Conference dual meet, a visit from McDaniel, is scheduled for November 6 at 2:00 p.m.
