CHICAGO – University of Chicago swim and dive kicked off their brand-new season with a dip in the Ratner Athletic Center pool against local rival Lewis. Both the men and women proved that another trip to the NCAA championships was their goal with two dominating wins on Saturday afternoon.

TEAM RESULTS
No. 2 Men's Team: 1^st place (188 points)
No. 7 Women's Team: 1^st place (221 points)

MEN'S TEAM RECAP

• The men downed Lewis by 89 points during their first action of the 2024 season which gave them six straight wins over their NCAA D-II opponent.
• Multi race winners during the dual included Cooper Costello who took home wins in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly races as well as John Butler who did the same thing across two different distances but in the backstroke and freestyle respectively.
• Danyal Ghadiali had an impressive first meet for the Maroons as the freshman from Florida took home the victories in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.

UCHICAGO MEN'S WINNERS

• 50-yard Freestyle: Jonathan Tang (20.59)
• 100-yard Breaststroke: Christopher Xia (56.89)
• 100-yard Butterfly: Cooper Costello (48.83)
• 100-yard Freestyle: Sebastien Vernhes (46.27)
• 200-yard Backstroke: John Butler (1:51.69)
• 200-yard Breaststroke: Christopher Mo (2:08.26)
• 200-yard Butterfly: Cooper Costello (1:51.82)
• 200-yard Freestyle: John Butler (1:41.59)
• 200-yard IM: Alex Schwartz (1:55.21)
• 200-yard Freestyle Relay: Jonathan Tang, Rylan Kruep, John Butler, Sebastien Vernhes (1:23.37)
• 1-meter Diving: Danyal Ghadiali (244.95)               
• 3-meter Diving: Danyal Ghadiali (255.30)

WOMEN'S TEAM RECAP

• The women also started off their year on a high note and earned almost 150 more points than their Lewis counterparts.
• Elisabella Forest, Emily Xu, and Karen Zhao each came away with two victories apiece as UChicago won ten individual events during the meet. Forest came away with the victory in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke, Xu was the winner in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly, and Zhao finished first in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle events.
• Lilia Atanda picked up where she left off last season and took home both the one- and three-meter diving events to prove that she has her sight set on the NCAA championships once again.

UCHICAGO WOMEN'S WINNERS

• 50-yard Freestyle: Sophia Lee (24.54)
• 100-yard Backstroke: Elisabella Forest (57.32)
• 100-yard Breaststroke: Alicia Soosai (1:06.58)
• 100-yard Butterfly: Emily Xu (58.46)
• 100-yard Freestyle: Karen Zhao (53.46)
• 200-yard Backstroke: Elisabella Forest (2:04.82)
• 200-yard Breaststroke: Ella McEver (2:27.01)
• 200-yard Butterfly: Emily Xu (2:10.27)
• 200-yard Freestyle: Karen Zhao (1:54.84)
• 200-yard IM: Karina Hartounian (2:12.33)
• 200-yard Freestyle Relay: Genesee Quon, Sophia Lee, Annabel Olivo, Karen Zhao (1:37.91)
• 200-yard Medley Relay: Elisabella Forest, Alicia Soosai, Genesee Quon, Karen Zhao (1:47.83)
• 1-meter Diving: Lilia Atanda (252.00)
• 3-meter Diving: Lilia Atanda (266.85)

WHAT'S NEXT
The Maroons will be back inside the Ratner Athletic Center for their first official home meet next Saturday when they host WashU for some UAA action in the pool. The first event will kickoff at 1:00 pm.

For up-to-the-minute University of Chicago Maroons news, visit www.athletics.uchicago.edu. You can also follow us on Twitter @uchicagoath and @uchicagoathletics on Instagram.