November 1, 1997 - The Loyola men's team hadn't beaten the Georgetown men in three years. The Loyola women hadn't toppled Georgetown in four years and carried a lifetime record of 3-12 against the Hoyas into the meet on Saturday. All this didn't seem to matter to a determined Greyhound team that wasn't about to let Georgetown cruise into Baltimore and have their way with them. In two very exciting and competitive meets, Loyola swam and dove to victory: The women won by an eye-opening score of 145.5-93.5. The men took there meet by an ever-so-close margin of 122-121.
The women set the tone for their meet early and in record breaking style. The team of Hilary Flint, Star Moran, Kate Nally and Christine Gahagan edged Georgetown's top medley relay by less than two tenths of a second to win the opening event. In the process, Loyola tied a nine year old team record for the 200 meter medley relay with their time of 2:11.26. The next two events belonged to freshman sensation Brie Hawkins. She out-distanced three strong Georgetown competitors and broke the school record in the 800 meter freestyle with a time of 9:46.96. She then came right back and won the next event, the 200 meter free, with a time of 2:13.77, crushing the record that she set last week against Fairfield. Hawkins later took the 400 meter free to cap off an outstanding meet.
Sophomore sprinter Christine Gahagan wasn't done after her anchor leg in the medley relay. She bested the competition in 50 meter freestyle (28.73) and placed second behind teammate Michelle Russo in the 100 meter free. Russo won the event with a time of 1:02.50.
Freshman Hilary Flint and Senior Stacey Brooks took second and third respectively in the 200 meter individual medley. Flint later captured the 100 meter backstroke in a time 1:10.19. Sophomore Trista Baxter tied for second place in that event.
Junior Kathleen Griffin won both the one and three meter diving competitions. The relay of sophomores Jen Wood, Jenny Redfield, Alison Bailey and Russo capped off the victory by winning the final event, the 200 meter free relay, with a time of 1:57.57.
The Loyola men knew that they had a daunting task ahead of them, but they were sure that they would come out on top as long as they won most of the events and kept the Hoyas from dominating any one event. Both of these tasks were accomplished.
The team of Ashley Loper, Tim Kelly, Ken Sposato, and Vin Massey started the meet off well for the Hounds, taking the 200 meter medley relay in a speedy 1:52.04. Sophomore John Moore stepped up an won the 800 meter free and followed that with a second place finish in the 200 meter free. Massey finished third in that event and senior Sean Smith, enjoying his best season to date at Loyola, took fourth. Moore would later add the 400 meter free to his win column.
Loyola Senior Tim Kelly wasn't at Georgetown last year to watch the Hounds fall to the Hoyas by 21 points. Kelly, whose older brother Larry was a standout swimmer for Georgetown before graduating last year and whose sister Colleen is currently a sophomore on the women's Hoya team, studied in Belgium last year. This year he returned in grand fashion by winning the 50 meter free (24.63) and placing second in the 100 meter breastroke.
In what might have been one of the most defining moments of the meet, Senior Ashley Loper blew the rest of the field away to capture the 100 meter backstroke (1:04.04). In the previous race, Senior Mark Gallagher sprinted past the field in the 100 meter free (54.96).
Loyola diving took second, third and fourth place in both the one and three meter competitions. Senior Will Bryant put forth a "Greg Louganis-like" effort in the one meter event. On his final dive, Bryant hit his head on the end of the board. He was not injured and could only smile about the incident after the meet, remarking that the dive he attempted was the same one that Louganis did when he hit his head in the 1992 Olympics. Bryant finished second in each diving event.
Loyola found themselves ahead by 10 points going into the final race, the 200 free relay. The Hounds knew going into the race that Georgetown would need to finish 1-2 in order to win the meet. The team of Andrew Conrad, Chris Abrams, Dave Raver, and Gallagher secured the one point victory with a second place finish.
The Hounds have not seen the last of the Hoyas as Loyola will travel to Georgetown for a two-day, four-team meet on December 5th and 6th. Colgate and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foe Marist are the other two opponents. For now, the Hounds can remain confident that the season is indeed looking up.
Click here for men's times and results.
Click here for women's times and results.
Back to the Home Page