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Final Four Appearance, NCAA Championship Meets, and All-American Awards Highlight Exhilarating Winter Sports Slates

Collage of winter sports: men's basketball, swimming, track and field

Update (3/20/23): The women's swimming team received five All-America honors on the weekend, which are given to the top 16 finishers in an event. The accolades were earned in the 200 and 400 medley relays, the 100 breaststroke, the 400 individual medley, and the 500 freestyle.

On the men's side, the team secured All-American status in the 400 medley relay and the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.

On March 16, the men's basketball team fell to eventual national champion Christopher Newport in the semifinal by a score of 69-66. The Garnet end their incredible season with a 28-4 record, including a perfect 18-0 mark at Tarble Pavilion.

While most of Swarthmore College was enjoying a restful Spring Break, student-athletes from the men’s basketball, men’s and women’s indoor track & field, and men’s and women’s swimming programs were preparing intensely for, and competing in, NCAA Division III postseason events.

Basketball team celebrates with trophy

The men's basketball team will face second-ranked Christopher Newport University on Thursday, March 16 at 5:30 PM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) in Fort Wayne, Ind., for a berth in the championship game.

On Saturday night, the seventh-ranked men’s basketball team punched its ticket to the Final Four with a dramatic 78-77 comeback victory over the visiting Nichols College Bison in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. The Garnet trailed for much of the contest and found themselves down by six points with about 90 seconds remaining. Baskets by Vinny DeAngelo ’24 and George Visconti ’23 helped offset Nichols College free throws and bring Swarthmore within one, 77-76. 

A Bison turnover gave the Garnet an opportunity to take the lead and Swarthmore fed the ball to Michael Caprise ’24 right outside of the paint. The forward from Lynchburg, Va., dribbled once before elevating for a leaning jump shot over his defender. The ball hit the back of the rim and rolled in as the Garnet faithful in Tarble Pavilion erupted. Nichols had a chance of its own with 5.8 seconds remaining, but failed to get a shot off before the final buzzer. The capacity crowd stormed the court in celebration. 

6ABC: Swarthmore College men's basketball team vying for Division 3 National Championship

It was only fitting that the team cut down the nets in front of its devoted fan base: Swarthmore finishes the campaign with an 18-0 record at Tarble, including four wins in the NCAA tournament. The Garnet will face second-ranked Christopher Newport University (CNU) on Thursday, March 16 at 5:30 PM EDT in Fort Wayne, Ind., for a berth in the championship game. If they advance, the title game will take place at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 18. It’s a bit of déjà vu for the Garnet, who also beat Nichols in the national quarterfinals and CNU in the Final Four en route to a runner-up finish in 2019.

For on-campus fans, there will be a watch party on Thursday, held in Science Center 101. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. and food will be provided.

For fans traveling to Fort Wayne, there will be a pregame gathering on Thursday at Casa Ristorante Italiano - Parnell from 3 to 5 p.m. Cash bar and complimentary appetizers will be available. Follow this link for registration.

Please visit the Swarthmore Athletics website for all other information regarding tickets, live streaming, and more.

Elle Anthony swims in pool

After cruising to dominant wins at their respective Centennial Conference championship meets, the Swarthmore women’s and men's swimming programs are hoping to continue that success at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, held March 15 to 18 in Greensboro, N.C. 

On the women’s side, the Garnet have 10 swimmers competing across 11 individual events: the 50 freestyle (Elle Anthony ’26 and Sophie Rotival ’25); the 100 freestyle (Anthony); the 100 and 200 breaststrokes (Rotival); the 100 butterfly (Katherine Hallmark ’26); the 200 butterfly (Quinn Weygandt ’26); the 100 backstroke (Erin Szuromi ’25); the 200 and 400 individual medleys (Weygandt); and the 500 freestyle and 1650 freestyles (Hallmark).

Additionally the team will compete in all five relay events at the championships: the 200 freestyle relay (Anthony, Cara Lee ’24, Szuromi, Ainsley Tambling ’26); the 200 medley relay (Anthony, Gabrielle Ma ’23, Szuromi, Ashley Wong ’24); the 400 freestyle relay (Anthony, Hallmark, Szuromi, Tambling); the 400 medley relay (Anthony, Rotival, Szuromi, Wong); and the 800 freestyle relay (Anthony, Hallmark, Georgi Mathews ’25, Weygandt).

The men will be represented by four swimmers competing in eight events: the 100 and 200 breaststrokes (Andrew Karpenko ’24); the 200 individual medley (Karpenko); the 100 butterfly (Cami Wilson ’26) and the 200 and 400 free relays in addition to the 200 and 400 medley relays (Colton Griscavage ’25, Karpenko, Joseph Lukner ’25, and Wilson).

Track and field members pose with All-American awards at indoor track

From left:  Assistant Track & Field Coach Lauren Lucci, Aidan Cantine ’23, Rose Teszler ’23, Adria Retter ’23, and Head Track & Field Coach Peter Carroll.

The indoor track & field programs wrapped up their winter slate with a successful weekend at the NCAA Division III National Championship Meet in Birmingham, Ala. 

Aidan Cantine ’23 earned All-America status after finishing fourth overall in the men's mile with a program record of 4:05.36. Cantine opened his senior year with an outstanding cross country season, where he narrowly missed out on All-American status. The senior will now look to build on his success as he prepares for the outdoor slate.

Rose Teszler ’23 also received All-American honors as she finished in seventh place in the women's 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.95. Teszler, who entered the weekend seeded 16th in the event, also broke her own program record in the 800-meter prelims with a mark of 2:11.55.

Adria Retter ’23 also competed at the meet, finishing 16th overall in the women’s shot put event. She heads into the outdoor season after receiving All-American status in the discus throw last year.

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