It is not how you start, it is how you finish. And after last Saturday’s beating in Philadelphia, the men’s swimming and diving team is finishing on a tear. On the road for its final dual meet of the 2003-04 season, Syracuse had a successful trip against Villanova.

The Orangemen were triumphant, pounding the Wildcats, 191-93. The Orangewomen had several strong performances but fell to Villanova, 168-124.

With the win, the Orangemen enter the Big East Championships, which are held Feb. 19-21, on a confidence-building roll. They haven’t lost since Nov. 1, and in Saturday’s meet, SU looked strong.

Leading the way for the Orangemen (6-1) was one of their four seniors, Spencer Raymond. Raymond appears poised to finish his career on a positive note, winning the 50- and 100-meter breaststrokes on Saturday with times of 26.87 and 57.66, respectively. Raymond edged freshman teammate Luk Boral for a 1-2 finish in both events. Raymond outdid his fellow Orangeman by .01 in the 50.

‘I knew we were even,’ Raymond said. ‘In the breaststroke, you really can’t look over, so I didn’t realize how close we were. But as long as it was us that finished 1-2, it didn’t really matter.’

Leading the way for the Orangewomen (3-4) were a pair of seniors. Kalei Mahi won the 50 and 100 breaststroke in times of 31.35 and 1:07.20, respectively. Elyse McDonough won the 50-meter butterfly (26.56) and placed second in the 50-meter freestyle (24.58).

‘Villanova was a fun meet for us,’ Mahi said. ‘I got to swim some events I haven’t swam since I was eight.’

The senior competed in her final dual meet, something she did not think about until it was over.

‘When the meet was over, we all fell back into the pool for a group picture,’ she said. ‘It was not until then that I was really conscious that it was the last dual meet.’

The Orangemen dominated throughout the meet. They had top finishers in all 16 events. Sophomore Pat Mugavin captured two of the 16 events. The distance swimmer was victorious in both the 500-meter freestyle (4:39.50) and the 1,000-meter freestyle (9:45.22) and has not lost this year.

Fellow sophomore Bobby Schelling won two events, too. The Arizona native had top times in the 50-meter backstroke (24.76) as well as in the 100-meter butterfly (51.93).

On the boards, sophomore Dewey Schultz did some fine tuning a couple weeks before the conference championships. Schultz was second in the 1-meter dive with a 272.33 score and won the 3-meter competition with a 291.45 mark.

For next week, Syracuse must perfect its techniques and shave precious milliseconds off its times.

‘We are looking for the group collectively to take on the mindset of this big meet coming up,’ head coach Lou Walker said. ‘I have said it before, but it is a mindset where we just come out focused, concentrated and work on fine-tuning things.’

The season will come to a close next weekend in Uniondale at the Big East Championships. The meet will mark the end of six seniors’ careers at SU and put an end to a roller coaster of emotions.

‘It is a diverse group of emotions,’ Mahi said. ‘Melancholy is the best way to put it. I am not 100 percent excited to be swimming in my last race. But I think Spencer and Elyse would agree with me, it’s a nice way to end this chapter and have a chance to celebrate.’

Published on February 9, 2004 at 12:00 pm