On a special Saturday afternoon that honored an accomplished Class of 2014, the Bison swimmers welcomed the Marymount University Saints to Burr Gymnasium. The Bison men and women took first place in 13 of the 22 total races in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
The Bison men narrowly fell to the visiting Saints by the score of 97-95. The Lady Bison also dropped a close match to the Lady Saints, falling 102-80.
The afternoon, though, was filled with victories for the home squads. Seniors
Janai Ederaine (Corona, CA),
Ashley Douglas (Missouri City, TX),
Nandi Ross (Capital Heights, MD), and
Keely Monge (Atlanta, GA) were not only commended for their contributions to the program, but combined for four of the teams' first place tallies. Ederaine had a very strong performance in her final collegiate home meet. First in the 200-yard individual medley, Ederaine clocked a victorious time of 2:21.45. In the following event, the 100-yard butterfly, Ederaine took first place with an excellent closing length, touching in a season-best time of 1:02.00.
Douglas scored her own first place tally in the 50-yard freestyle with a dual meet best time of 25.37. For the final event of the afternoon, Douglas teamed with Monge, freshman
Ayana Cox (Atlantic City, NJ) and sophomore
Benta Horton-Gee (Baltimore, MD) for a victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Trailing in the final leg, Douglas stormed ahead of the Lady Saints for the Lady Bison victory, posting a time of 1:46.49.
Cox also scored an individual victory in the 100-yard backstroke with a season-best time of 1:03.50.
The Howard men missed picking-up the team victory by the narrowest of margins, but still triumphed in eight of their 11 races. The Bison were led by their junior class of
Miles Hector (Omaha, NE),
Benjamin Skelding (Palmdale, CA),
Dexter Brown (Pearland, TX) and
Trent Popovich (Morro Bay, CA).
Hector notched season-best times in winning the 1000-yard freestyle with a 10:20.35 and in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:57.38. Skelding also snatched two season-best times, blowing by the Saints in the 200-yard individual medley with a winning time of 2:05.29. Later, in the 100-yard backstroke, Skelding won with a time of 56.63.
Brown was impressive in his two individual victories. In the 200-yard freestyle, Brown's time of 1:53.24 was good for first place. His hard-fought 100-yard breaststroke was rewarded with a victory in a time of 1:02.40.
Popovich took charge early in his 100-yard freestyle and finished with a winning time of 50.42. To conclude the meet, the Popovich led fellow junior
Emeka Brooks (Bowie, MD), sophomore Matt Golden (Los Angeles, CA) and freshman
Dante Williams (Warren, MI) in defeating the Saints in the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:32.97.
The Bison will now travel to Davidson, North Carolina for their final dual meet competition. The Lady Bison will face Georgia Southern, Liberty and Davidson while the men will visit the host Wildcats. The two-day competition begins on Friday at 6pm and continues on Saturday at 11am.
