BRONX, N.Y. - The reintroduced Monmouth University men's and women's swimming teams returned to the pool on Friday night, as they took on Fordham and Fairfield for their first meet in decades.
The Hawks competed in a total of 18 events on the night, with junior Sam Lynch winning the men's 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly. Lynch finished the 100-yard backstroke in 51.96 seconds and the 100-yard butterfly in 50.97 seconds, which was 4.11 seconds faster than the second place finisher.
Head coach Matt Nunnally was pleased with his team's effort throughout the night. “I think it went really well,” he said. “Everybody came out with a positive attitude, gave great effort, and stayed engaged in the meet. I think we took away a positive experience.”
The men's first event of the night was the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Sam Lynch, William Lyons, Mitchell Simmer, and Michael Lanigan placed fifth, finishing with a time of 1:42.57.
On the women's side, junior Anne Skimmons placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in 2:02.53. Skimmons would later place second in 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:02.01, which was two-tenths of a second away from the win. Six events later, Skimmons helped the women's team secure third in the 200-yard freestyle relay, along with teammates Summer Shaheed, Jessica Arias, and Kaitlyn Negron.
“I think coming back after 32 years is definitely a feat, and our team responded very well,” Skimmons said. “Building a team would be the number one thing that I'm looking forward to. Just coming together and bringing back Monmouth swimming.”
In the last event of the night, the men followed up with a second place finish in their portion of the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team consisted of Mitchell Ianneillo, Sam Lynch, Michael Lanigan, and William Lyons, who finished with a time of 1:31.25.
Coach Nunnally knows the key to the season is daily improvement. “Just looking at where we've come from six weeks ago when we started to where we are now, we've made a lot of improvement,” he said. “It's something to build off of. It gives us a benchmark in terms of where we are right now and gives us something to build off of towards our championships in February.”
Senior Kevin Moedt didn't think he would ever have the opportunity to swim for the Monmouth Hawks. Just getting in the pool was an exciting feat in itself. “I love everyone on the team and I'm excited to see where our team goes,” Moedt said. “I'm excited to get together as a team. The teams we just faced, they've been together for four years. We won a couple races tonight. It's our first meet, but we're going to go high up from here. I'm telling you, Hawks fly high.”
