Swimming looks to make a splash

The Baruch men and women's swimming teams will be at the CUNY Athletic Conference finals from Feb. 4 through Feb. 6. During the regular season, the men finished in second place and the women finished at the top of their division. Now both are confidently going into the championship tournament.

A crucial component of the swim teams' psyche is hard work. During the winter intersession the team had four practices a day, two in the pool and two outside it. 
As a result, times were dropped, which will help the team in the upcoming days.  According to coach Charles Lampasso, the strenuous training schedule helped the team grow together and created unity.

"Unity is a big deal," he said. "Meets are long, we have to be able to keep motivated and keep going."

Another crucial aspect that worked towards both teams' success was the recruiting that was done. According to Lampasso, the team picked up some excellent transfers and freshman, while the seniors helped to guide their new teammates.

"We just have to do work on the little things: turns, starts, finishes, but as a team we're strong," women's captain Tiffany Wong said.

During the regular season, the Bearcats had many outstanding swimmers, including some individual award winners.

The week of Nov. 13, Kenny Kim won men's swimming Rookie of the Week. According to Cunyathletics.com, Kim "set a new school record as he helped the Bearcats defeat conference foe York 125-59."

On the women's side, Alyssa Lubrino also won Rookie of the Week for the week of Dec. 7. Cunyathletics.com states, "Lubrino set a new school record for freshmen in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.52. She was the only CUNY Athletic Conference competitor in the top 30 finishers."

The same week, sophomore Priscilla Arana won CUNYAC Swimmer of the Week. According to Cunyathletices.com, "The Baruch Bearcats placed sixth as a team at the ECAC Winter Championships meet, largely due to the efforts of [Arana][…] Arana placed 11th in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:38.65 and 14th in the 100-breast in 1:14.60. She was the highest CUNY Athletic Conference swimmer in each event. Additionally, she swam in four relays, each of which finished in sixth place. They were the 400-medley relay, the 200-, 400-, and 800-yard freestyle relays."

Both teams hope that these individual award winners, along with the other outstanding swimmers for Baruch this season, can help Baruch take home the gold for both teams, a feat that neither team has accomplished in school history.