The Jaspers left the MAAC Championship with improved school records and personal performances. @JASPERSWIMDIVE / INSTAGRAM
Barbara Vasquez, Editor-in-Chief
The Manhattan University (MU) men’s and women’s swimming and diving team competed in the MAAC championships this past week, with sophomore swimmer Tristan Ehrhardt taking down a school record along the way.
The team traveled to the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio for the four day championship meet. Day one kicked off with many relays for the Jaspers, including the men’s 200 yard medley relay where Ehrhardt broke the school record for his time during the backstroke portion of the race. Ehrhardt split a time of 23.89 in the 50 back, breaking the previous record of 24.03 set by Lance Neuendorf in 2014.
“It was definitely a goal for me, and to be honest with you, I figured I was going to break it,” Ehrhardt said. “I just had those nerves of ‘what happens if I don’t break it?’ Those pre-meet jitters always get to me, but when you have a good race like that, on day one as well, that really set the tone for the whole meet for me.”
Ehrhardt saw his time while still in the pool and immediately hopped out to celebrate the accomplishment with the nearest teammate he could find, senior swimmer Elle Feneide. Feneide owns the same record in the 50 back on the women’s side.
“It was really awesome to see Tristan break that record as a sophomore, because I actually also broke a record when I was a sophomore,” Feneide said. “So it was really nice to be the person behind the blocks when he got out.”
Day two of the meet continued with the personal bests for the Jaspers. Ehrhardt competed in the men’s 200 yard freestyle relay, alongside teammates Jonathan Carsen, Mark Haynes and Myles Brown, where he dropped a 20.82 split in the 50 free section. This was an achievement that Ehrhardt especially took pride in as it had been four years in the making, according to him. Now that he’s achieved this goal, he’s setting his expectations for himself even higher.
“I use every meet, specifically like a championship meet, as a baseline of where I can be in the future,” Ehrhardt said. “My real anticipation is to be top of the MAAC in the 50 free. I know it’s going to be a very long, hard, physically and mentally demanding road, but it’s a road I’m willing to take… This meet made me realize ‘if I actually set my mind to it, I can do this.’”
On day three, the Jaspers kept up the momentum with making finals and breaking personal records. Senior Jaila Williamson made finals in the 100 yard breaststroke, following a finals performance in the 50 yard freestyle the day prior, with freshman Sean Garvey following suit in the men’s section of the 100 yard breaststroke. Feneide secured 19th place in the women’s 200 yard freestyle, after dropping over two seconds in her time. After years of plateauing in the event, Feneide shares that this was a particularly notable moment during the meet for her.
“Everything about the meet felt so much better, I even did better in my races after that, because I was so much more excited,” Feneide said. “It really just felt like ‘the’ moment of my swim career, just because that race has been such a frustration for so long that it felt like a complete breakthrough in a way that I’m not sure any of my other races ever will.”
The MAAC championships concluded on Saturday, Feb. 14 on the fourth and final day of competition. Feneide swam in finals in the women’s 100 yard freestyle with a time of 52.92, earning her the 17th spot in the race. She also competed in the women’s 400 yard relay, where she swam the fastest 100 free split in program history, breaking her own record. Even with her stellar performances, Feneide spoke with The Quadrangle about how some of her biggest takeaways from the meet focus on the team and its energy, rather than personal performance.
“It was really overwhelming, there at the end, where the energy was so fantastic and everybody was so great,” Feneide said. “We came together as a team really, really well, so there was definitely that little bittersweet moment of ‘I’m just really going to miss this.’”
Despite its reputation as a solitary sport, having a strong support system within your team, and cultivating team energy are of major importance in swimming. Gavin Harding, junior swimmer on the team, competed in the men’s 400 freestyle relay, the final race of the championship. For Harding, thinking outside of yourself is especially emphasized in these moments.
“When you’re swimming, not only for yourself but for your teammates, it does provide another level of confidence and drive for you,” Harding said. “That relay was done right after the 200 fly, which I’m always exhausted after. But when you know there’s a relay you can go after, or you have teammates who are counting on you, it drives you to dig deeper. It’s in those moments that you find the essence of swimming is bigger than you are.”
Harding, Feneide and Ehrhardt all shared the same sentiment of fondness towards their team and teammates, with Feneide claiming that the team at MU has “turned into something really special.” Above all else, though, it is the love for the sport that has pushed the team to continue working hard, for themselves and their teammates.
“I swam because I love the sport, and I can’t imagine myself not being a swimmer and I can’t imagine my life without it,” Harding said. “No matter what the time says, no matter how the performance was, if you can get out of that water and still know that you made the right choice doing the sport you did, then nothing else matters.”
Some of the MU swim team will continue their season this Thursday at the four day ECAC Open championships, hosted by Bucknell University.