Gerensulu, Haigh wins highlight split Swim and Dive meet versus Towson
Written By: Brian Jerry
Staff Writer
Swimmers Yesim Giresunlu and Jason Haigh each earned individual victories as Old Dominion split the Monarchs’ swim and dive meet against Towson on senior day Saturday afternoon at J.C. “Scrap” Chandler Pool.
The men defeated Towson 182-118 and improved to 8-2 while the women fell to the four-time defending Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Champions 122-155, dropping to 7-6 on the year on an action-packed day in which a handful of seniors and a freshman attempted to put on a show in the last home meet of the 2012 season.
Giresunlu started off her day in grand fashion by winning the Event three women’s 1,000-yard individual medley and setting a new Old Dominion record at 10:00:17. The 5-feet-6-inch freshman from Instanbul, Turkey would also go on to claim first in the Heat 23 women’s 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:59.87. Despite the women’s loss, Giresunlu embraced the positives of her day’s work.
“I felt fantastic. I knew it was going to be a close swim, but she [Towson’s Kendall Towe] got tired after the half of the 1,000 (IM), so I increased my tempo and just beat her,” Girensunlu said.
Holding up the end on the men’s side, sophomore Jason Haigh soared to the finish line in the Heat 23 Men’s 200-yard breaststroke after coming up just short behind teammate Arnie Arnason in the 100-yard breaststroke (58.68).
“It went well, it was exciting because Arnie was swimming different events today so it was nice to be able to kind of be in lane four and have a shot to win it,” Haigh said.
With the conference meet right around the corner, Haigh assessed the team’s efforts to impress in Fairfax this time around.
“We’ve got to tighten up a couple of the little things, work on some starts, turns and just start resting and getting excited for this meet.”
Erla Haraldsdottir finished at 3:33.31 as the senior crossed the finish line for the final time in front of the home crowd leading the Lady Monarch’s to a thrilling .27 of a second victory in the Event 31 women’s 400-yard relay. Towson would upend the men in the same event behind Andy Disco’s 49.22 second finish.
Other impressive times included Monarchs seniors Arni Arnasson’s wins in the men’s event six 200-yard freestyle(1:39.14) and 100-yard backstroke(57.78) along with Sidni Hoxha in the 50-yard freestyle(20.82) and 100-yard freestyle(47.06).
With a bird’s eye view of the day’s meet, head coach Carol Withus seemed content with the team’s run in the pool.
“I thought we performed really well, a lot of our kids stepped up. It was our seniors’ last home meet, so we did a great job. We had a lot of good indicators for upcoming CAA Championships” Withus said of the road ahead, though she admits there’s room for improvement beforehand. “There’s work to be done, probably fine tuning is what I’d call it.”
The high board portion of Saturday’s action included Towson sweeping events in Event 28 women’s and men’s three-meter diving. Jeanne Ball (280.20) finished first while ODU sophomore Rebecca Kunkel earned 103.42 points with her handful of dives in the event.
“I’ve done better in practice, but I think it’s also the nerves. If you’re at the pool with that many people, the nerves can actually go against you in diving” Kunkel said.
Kunkel’s diving teammate and fellow Alexandria native freshman Mitchell Ortiz placed second in the men’s portion of the event receiving 247.73 points in the finals.
“Today was not my best performance. It went alright, had a few bad hurdles and had my feet on the edge, but I did what I could with it and it went alright,” Ortiz said.
The Virginia 529 College Savings Plan 2012 CAA swimming & diving championship begins Feb. 22 through Feb. 25 at the Jim McKay Natatorium at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, won last year by UNC Wilmington.
Photo by Ari Gould
