DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke swimming and diving team continues its season this weekend as it heads to Massachusetts for a pair of meets. The Blue Devils will compete at Boston College on Friday at 3 p.m. and at Harvard on Saturday at 10 a.m.
“We are excited to be heading to Boston for another weekend of racing,” Duke head coach Dan Colella said. “This weekend is an opportunity to swim some new programs and to keep building on our racing performances. It is going to be a fun weekend.”
THE WEEKEND SLATE
The Blue Devils (ranked 17th in women’s and receiving votes in men’s) will take on five teams this weekend in the pool. On Friday, Duke participates in a rare quad meet with Dartmouth and UConn at ACC-foe Boston College at 3 p.m. Saturday’s slate has the Blue Devils taking the pool against Harvard and the seventh-ranked Texas A&M men’s side at 10 a.m.
Dartmouth, Connecticut, Texas A&M and Boston College are all unique opponents for the Blue Devils. Duke last met Harvard in Durham in January 2015. In that meeting, the women topped the Crimson 154-146 in a tight meet while the men came up short 95-199.
LAST TIME OUT
The Duke swimming and diving team fell in its last time out to SEC powerhouse Georgia Bulldogs, 140-160 in women’s and 130-170 on the men’s side. The Bulldogs entered the meet ranked 12th in women’s and 15th in men’s.
Duke opened the meet winning both of the 200 medley relays for the second consecutive contest. Emma Shuppert, Halle Morris, Alyssa Marsh and Melissa Pish earned the win for the women in 1:39.44, a time that ranks ninth in Duke history in the event. Nathaniel Hartley, Colson Zucker, Charlie Gingrich and Miles Williams swam a 1:29.32 to take the event. William’s 19.57 50 free split as the anchor sealed the deal for the Blue Devils.
Marsh shined for the Blue Devils in the water, winning three events for Duke. She finished the 50 freestyle in a time of 22.62, an NCAA B cut time. The Davidson, N.C., native’s time of 50.08 made her the top finisher of the 100 freestyle. To finish her day, Marsh topped the 100 butterfly in 53.43 (B).
The Blue Devils swept the 100 backstroke as the women went one, two, three in the event and Hartley took it for the men. Shuppert, Quinn Scannell and Shayna Hollander finished with times of 54.85, 55.34 and 55.82, respectively. The Cincinnati native’s 54.85 in the event places her eighth in Duke history.
Matthew Whelan, Williams and Connie Dean each added an additional individual win for the Blue Devils. Whelan topped the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.67. Williams finished fifth in the 50 freestyle but rebounded to finish first in the 100 freestyle with a time of 44.42. Dean won the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:19.53.
Duke finished the day with a win in the men’s 400 freestyle relay. The team of Sheldon Boboff, Coleman Kredich, Whelan and Williams finished in 3:00.32 to end the meet on the right foot.
On the boards, the Blue Devils dominated. Nathaniel Hernandez topped the side in both the one-meter and three-meter events, earning 406.73 in the three-meter and 366.30 in the one-meter. Lizzie Fitzpatrick finished in first place in the one-meter and second in the three-meter with scores of 287.70 and 285.38, respectively.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Throughout the weekend, live updates will be available for both meets on the MeetMobile app. Saturday’s meet at Harvard will be streamed on ESPN+. The link can for the meet can be found on the Duke swimming and diving schedule page or here.
CONTINUOUS SHIFTING IN THE RECORD BOOKS
During the Georgia meet, three performances caused shifts in the Duke Top-10 lists of Blue Devil history.
After etching her name in the record books during her first collegiate meet, Shuppert improved on her time in the 100 backstroke to jump up one spot, ninth to eighth, in Duke history in the event. The Cincinnati native swam a 54.85 against Georgia to set a career best.
Junior Zach Washart set a career best in the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 9:18.74, a 0.75 second improvement. With the improvement, Washart improved in the Top-10 list, from seventh to sixth.
In addition to individual records being set, the women’s 200 medley relay team of Shuppert, Morris, Marsh and Pish etched their names in ninth in the Duke history books with a time of 1:39.44.
FRESHMEN SHOW IMPROVEMENT
13 Duke freshmen set career-best times across 19 events from the meet against Florida State to the Georgia meet.
Jonah Cagley, Matthew Knox and Will Tenpas led the men’s side with two each. Brendan Driscoll also recorded a career-best during the meet.
For the women, Ali Watson and Alex Bumpas each set two career-bests. Olwyn Bartis, Kate Mullin, Natasha Ong, Kayle Park, Shuppert, Sarah Snyder and Olivia Tighe also registered career-bests against Georgia.
UP NEXT
Duke returns to North Carolina to compete in the GAC/Wolfpack Invitational Nov. 21-23 at the Greensboro Aquatics Center in Greensboro, N.C.