CAZENOVIA, N.Y.—The Hobart and William Smith College swimming & diving teams traveled to Cazenovia, New York this afternoon to take on the Wildcats in a nonconference matchup. The Statesmen and Herons dominated this afternoon, taking first place in 31 of 32 events that took place. The Herons defeated the Wildcats 189-47 while the Statesmen took their first win of the season, defeating the Wildcats 61-0.

First-year Lea Emanuel led the Herons with three first-place finishes this afternoon. Emanuel took first place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:08.28, the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:47.12, and the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:27.48.

Three Herons finished with two first-place finishes on the day. Sophomore Tessa Yohan took first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:21.79 and first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:30.93. First-year Sonya Wilkerson took first-place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:11.76 and then posted a time of 2:58.90 in the 200-yard breaststroke. First-yar Hali Seidberg finished first in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:27.97 as well as the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:06.79.

Sophomore Brooke Prochniak took first place in the 50-yard freestyle as she posted a time of 28.69 while first-year Bella Hare Leiva clocked in at 13:25.70 in the 1000-yard freestyle which took first-place as well. First-year Ella Raiti continued to impress from the diving board as she took first place from the 1-meter board with a score of 144.70.

The Heron relay teams dominated against the Wildcats, taking first-place in each relay event. In the 200-yard medley relay, Prochniak, Seidberg, Emanuel and Maggie Woodruff took first place with a time of 2:09.91. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Raiti, Wilkerson, Hare Leiva and Seidberg posted a time of 1:55.37 which was fast enough for another first-place finish.

Senior Avi Rajkarnikar led the Statesmen this afternoon, posting three first-place finishes. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Rajkarnikar posted a time of 1:23.64. He followed that up with a first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 27.43 and the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:04.00.

First-year Jameson Ardis took first-place in two events at Cazenovia this afternoon. Ardis took first-place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:28.24 and the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 7:18.31. First-year Tillman Washington took first-place from the 1-meter diving board with a score of 140.40.

Sophomore Shaan Vernenkar saw his first action of the season for the Statesmen as he joined Washington, Ardis and Rajkarnikar in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Statesmen relay team took first-place with a time of 1:51.45.

COACHES CORNER
"Today was a fun meet competing with Caz during their senior meet and their last home dual meet ever," Head Coach R.C. Weston said. "We were grateful to take part and commend their athletes for sticking things out in a difficult time. Our Herons dominated while swimming several "off-events" as we end the winter training season and gear up for the spring semester. We had a lot of fun watching Hali and Tori swim the 200 Fly, and Sonya had a really nice 200 Breaststroke. It was also a great meet for Bella to swim a few distance events. On the guys side we won our first meet by default, but not for any lack of effort. We were able to get some of our guys to try new events and expand their horizons a bit. Avi was able to swim his first 100 Breaststroke and Jameson crushed his 200 and 500 for the first time. Overall, we left the meet with high spirits and look forward to the final push towards Liberty Leagues!"

UP NEXT
William Smith will travel to Rochester to take on RIT on Saturday, Jan. 28. The meet between the Herons and the Tigers is set to start at 1 p.m.