Both the men’s and women’s swim teams began their seasons by splitting a pair of meets at MIT on November 17.  The men defeated Babson 201.00-105.00 before falling to host MIT 241.00-70.00. The women were also victorious over Babson 183.00-101.00, and were bested by MIT 224.00-87.00.
 It was a particularly strong outing for the women’s team, as first year Bridget Killian made an impressive collegiate debut. She won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:56.67 and took second in the 200 Individual Medley (IM) with a time of 2:19.30.  Katherine Foley ’13, returning to the team after a break last season, tied Lela Garner ’16 for first place in the 500-yard breaststroke with a time of 5:23.90.  Foley also came in second in the 1000 free with a time of 10:50.77. Maeve O’Leary ’14 came in second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:12.06 and third in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:36.97. Captain Kaley Kokomoor ’13 was third in the 100 freestyle with a time of 57.26. 
“I felt really good about the way the team began our season at MIT,” Kokomoor said, reflecting on the team’s performance. “I thought everybody did really well, which is not always the case with the first meet of the year, and I think that bodes well for the rest of the year. I was especially proud of how strongly our first years performed.” 
The men’s best individual finishes came with four third place finishes:  junior Ryan Peabody’s  in the 1000-yard free with a time of 10:32.22; captain Basyl Stuyvesant ’13  in the 100 backstroke clocking in at 53.82; Chris Granata ’14 in the 200 butterfly at  1:57.93; and Ryan Kulesza’s ’15 in the 200 IM with a time of 2:01.40.
Both 200-yard medley relay teams took third place. The women’s squad, consisting of Teri Faller ’15, O’Leary, Kelsey Goodwin ’15 and Tricia Hartley ’15, clocked in at 1:54.57 and the men’s team of Stuyvesant, John Lagasse ’16, Kevin Koh ’16, and E.J Googins ’13 finished in 1:38.30. 
“I thought it was a good meet overall,” said Stuyvesant. “Some people had really good races, others didn’t have their best, but it was a good start. MIT is one of our hardest opponents and the first meet is really just a benchmark to build upon for the rest of the season.”
In diving, Thomas Kramer ’15 came in second in both the one meter and three meter diving competitions with scores of 256.95 and 226.75 respectively. On the women’s side, Caroline Moore ’14 came in third in the three meter competition with a score of 192.40. 
The teams return to MIT today to take part in the annual two-day MIT Invitational, a competitive regional event drawing many D-III teams from all over the Northeast.  The Polar Bears finished fifth out of seven teams last year.