The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams began their season this past Thursday at the Roger Williams University pentathlon. The Judges secured multiple top-10 finishes on both sides in a non-scoring invitational. 

On the men’s side, the Judges split the top-10 spots evenly with Roger Williams, taking five of the ten finishes. 

Roger Williams sophomore Hunter Olson finished in first overall for the second year in a row, beating out Tamir Zitelny ’20, who finished third overall for the Judges. Zitelny came in first for the 100-yard butterfly race with a time of 52.80 and narrowly missed another gold in the 100-yard backstroke race with a time of 56.11. 

Noah Ayers ’20 slid into the top-five overall with multiple top-five finishes on the day. Next in line for the Judges was Zach Diamond ’18, who fell from a top-five finish last season to seventh place this year. Cam Braz ’17 and Tom Alger ’20 came in ninth and 10th place, respectively, to even out the top-10.

The Judges faltered in the 100-yard breaststroke, unable to land a top-three finish in the event, but came back in the backstroke to take two of the top three. 

Overall, the men were able to power past their opponents on the shoulders of crucial first-years. 

On the women’s side, Kyle Herman ’19 swooped into second-place overall with a first-place time of 56.33 in the 100-yard freestyle.  Herman’s total time was edged out by a smidge over one second by junior Mackenzie Webber from Roger Williams. Hwanhee Park’s ’20 finish was even closer, ceding third place to junior Hannah Nolte by three one-hundredths of a second.

 The Judges racked up only three top-10 finishes, with Park and Philippa Zheku ’20 placing fourth and sixth, respectively. Park swam into first place for the 100-yard butterfly and third place in the 100-yard breaststroke. 

The women channeled their inner youth, as the first-years once again led the way for the Judges. With no seniors on the squad, the first-years will need to keep up their intensity in order to carry the Judges to victory. 

The Judges will look ahead to next Saturday when they approach Wheaton College at 1 p.m. The men were outmatched last season, losing 177.5-107.5 in a difficult match to swallow. The women were similarly ousted, imploding in a 206-84 bashing by Wheaton. The Judges look poised for success with their talented and young core, but they must erase their memories of last year to power forward to the finish line.