Cabrini’s men’s and women’s swim teams faced two hurdles during their meet on Saturday, Jan. 29. Not only did they face Widener University, but it was the last home meet of the season, giving it the name, “senior swim meet.”
Although Cabrini was undefeated, they were toppled by Widener’s winning scores of 130-53 and 126-62. But that didn’t stop the team from placing first in several races and beating personal bests.
Many seniors finished in first for the men’s team including Kyle Teliszewski, Ben Nanna, Bill Boylan and Matthew McGuriman. The only senior to place first for the women’s team was Emily Yurick in the 100-yard breaststroke.
At the senior swim meet, the seniors were presented with gifts from their teammates. But that wasn’t the only recognition they received. Among the packed stands were supporting friends and family and decorated posters acknowledging each senior.
“I went to the meet to see my roommates and my friend Josh compete. I knew it was the senior swim meet and that they would be recognized for swimming their last meet at Cabrini College so I felt that I should be there to cheer them on,” Valerie Saar, senior social work major, said.
Besides being presented with gifts, the seniors swam a lap with each other during one of the breaks in the meet.
Fellow teammate and friend Lauren Sliva was sad to see this season end and for the seniors to graduate.
“The senior meet is a farewell – a way of saying ‘it was great having you on the team, here’s our thanks and we hope you had fun this season.’ As for my teammates, we’re a family. We are up abnormally early together, have very long road trips together and then spent a week together over winter break. It’s sad to think that next year they will be gone,” Sliva, junior communication major, said.
For one teammate, the senior swim meet meant something different to her than to her teammates. Lisa Somers, senior social work major, hurt her shoulder during the training trip to Florida over winter break.
“Sitting out with an injury is always tough but still being a part of the team and cheering them on sort of made me forget that I was sitting out at all. I’m proud of the team and how far we’ve come in the past four years that I’ve been a part of it,” Somers said.
Teammate’s Josh Prown and Boylan both agree with Somers when looking back on this past season.
“I will miss all the fun and crazy times we all had as a team and I will miss at the end of each season looking at how much my times have dropped,” Boylan, senior accounting major, said.
Although this is Prown’s first and last season as a swimmer, he has taken away great memories and skills from this past season.
“The season overall has been a very good one. We’ve had great competition and have seen some great performance from our swimmers. The training we did in Florida really helped but more importantly I feel it allowed for the team to really bond,” Prown, senior communication major, said.
When the season ends in mid February, the team will lose seven seniors. Some seniors reached top-notch places and beat their own personal bests this season, but each of these graduates will never forget the memories they made while on the men’s and women’s swim team.
