BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In its final dual meet of the regular season, the Lehigh swimming and diving team came up on the short end of close 148-146 score against visiting Drexel Saturday at Jacobs Pool. The Mountain Hawks won four of the first six events, but only won two of the remaining ten, as the Dragons benefitted from 32 unanswered points in diving, and out-touched the Brown and White in a number of close finishes.
Senior Emily DiDonato won two individual events in her final home meet to pace the Mountain Hawks, who wrap up the dual meet season with a 1-4 record.
DiDonato led Lehigh sweeps of the top three places in the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke events. In the 100, DiDonato posted a winning time of 1:06.93 with freshman Rebekah Campo and sophomore Kim Weyand finishing second and third respectively. She then won the 200 in 2:24.78 followed by Weyand and freshman Melissa Feeney.
The dual started well for the Mountain Hawks as Lehigh won the opening 200 yard medley relay with sophomore Alissa Leung, Campo, senior Brooke Smalley and freshman Carolyn Koch posting a time of 1:49.45. Lehigh’s early run continued as freshman Courtney Patterson and senior Danielle Caruso finished 1-2 in the 1000 free with Patterson’s winning time clocking in at 10:31.14. Patterson also won the 200 yard butterfly in 2:10.41 with sophomore Mary Samuels finishing second.
Among the heartbreaking losses for the Lehigh women, Koch was out touched for the win by .38 seconds in the 200 free and by just .04 in the 50 free. She also took second in the 100 free. A mere .09 seconds prevented Patterson from her third win of the day as she came up just short in the 500 free, an event where Lehigh finished 2-3-4.
Lehigh did make it a sweep of the relay events as Patterson, Samuels, and sophomores Taylor Wise and Madeleine Smith.
“We swam fast again today, but Drexel just kept touching us out,” said Lehigh head coach Rob Herb. “We were frustrated today but we did not quit. We pushed hard every race and are now looking forward to Patriots in a few weeks.”
The Mountain Hawks will now shift focus to the Patriot League Championships, February 21-23 at Bucknell’s Kinney Natatorium.