With a 172-128 win over United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) on Saturday, Feb. 5, Rowan Men’s Swimming & Diving capped off their undefeated 2021-2022 season in dual meets with a 6-0 record.
Now the team is looking to ride the momentum into the postseason stretch of the season.
“We’re in a good spot,” Head Coach Brad Bowser said. “The training is all starting to come together. We’re starting to taper down our yardage… Altogether, I think we’re in a great area of getting these guys in the water to compete.”
There were many Profs that contributed to the win on Saturday. Seniors Greg Cann and Kevin Gillooly each scored two individual wins during the day. Senior Kevin Yanagisawa, junior Andrew Fenton, sophomore Alex Volin and freshman Tobias Cahnbley also all recorded individual wins of their own.
However, it was junior Joe Rucci that stole the show with three individual wins in the 1000 yard free, 100 fly, and the 200 individual medley (IM).
Rucci feels he has reached his peak form heading into the most important part of the year.
“Those three wins gave me a lot of confidence moving forward, because I don’t really want to lose,” Rucci said. “Seeing what everyone else is doing, I think I always have a really good chance of taking home victories.”
Saturday was also Senior Day, with the team’s five seniors Greg Cann, Kevin Gillooly, Matt Maretic, Dylan Regan and Kevin Yanagisawa all being honored.
“It was great to see those guys get honored,” Coach Bowser said. “Last year, those guys missed their junior year. So for them to get recognized in a senior season, to be out of the COVID situation… and to be able to start some sort of normalcy in terms of competing is really nice to see.”
The Metropolitan Championships (METS) are inching closer and closer, and it’s something that this team looks forward to every year.
With his observations of the team up to this point, Rucci is confident in his team’s ability to go out and dominate when the time comes.
“Just watching what everyone is doing at practice, watching Kevin [Gillooly] go 20 point in the 50 free in the middle of practice, it gives us, as a team, a lot of confidence moving forward to see what we can do at the METS and in NCAAs [National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships],” Rucci said.
With the Metropolitan Championships just a week away, the team will have their most important week of prep yet. The METS will take place from Feb. 17 to Feb. 20 at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
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