The Salisbury University Sea Gulls wrapped up a historic season with their sweep of St. Mary’s on senior day. The meet was the last of their regular season and with their 184-75 victory, the men’s team went undefeated (9-0) for the first time in program history.
On the women’s side, their 8-1 record is a program best, eclipsing the seven-win seasons notched during the 2000-01, 2004-05, and 2008-09 campaigns.
Strong freshman classes propelled the team: the men’s side has 21 freshmen while the women have 14. This marks a significant turn around for the program, helmed by second year head coach Nate Parsley. Last season, there were only nine men total on the team and both the men’s and women’s dual meet records were 4-1. In this season’s preview, Parsley said “last year, we set the tone for what we want to do as a program…we are looking to continue to improve and prove this is a breakout year for the Salisbury University swim team.
The undefeated streak is comprised of many program firsts. Over the course of the season, the Seagulls swept Washington College, Widener University, and Cabrini University for the first time in school history.
With their championship meet still to come, two program records have also gone down on the women’s side: the 200 free and 400 medley relays. The former relay record had stood since 1999, until Alexa Hilty, Anna Jayjack, Lily Golden, and Kara Graybill went 1:41.36 to clip the mark by .36 seconds.
To lock up their historic seasons, the Sea Gulls were absolutely dominant. They won a combined 23 events, highlighted by a pool record in the men’s 400 free relay. The meet was held in SCM, and the team of Michael DeSimone, Chris Knorr, Dominic Kazzi, and Mitchell McGee swam 3:37.52 to take down the previous record from 2019.
Up next, the Sea Gulls head to the Metropolitan Swimming Conference Championships. In 2022, the women finished seventh and the men finished eighth. Based on the season that they’ve had so far, expect them to vault up the standings and try to crack the top five.
Salisbury recently announced that they are joining the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) beginning in the 2023-24 academic year. The conference, which now features nine women’s programs and eight men’s, is set to host its first championship meet next season as well.
Hey they didn’t sweep