Feb. 23, 2005
LOYOLA, Md. - The Fairfield University men's and women's swimming and diving teams completed their season this weekend at the MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships, held at Loyola College's Fitness and Aquatic Center. Over the course of the three-day event, the Stags broke nine school-records.
The women were led by senior Kelly Steele (Chatham, N.J.) who swam on both record-setting relay teams and set two individual school marks in her final meet for the Stags. Steele teamed up with freshmen Sarah Dent (Albertson, N.Y.) and Elizabeth Lawlor (North Wales, Pa.) and sophomore Brittany Hunter (Mt. Kisco, N.Y.) to take fourth in the 400-yard medley relay in a record-setting time of 4:04.49. Steele and the 800 freestyle relay team of Hunter, freshman Erin Carrather (Westwood, N.J.) and sophomore Jennifer Masi (North Haven, Conn.) then set a new standard, taking fifth-place in a time of 8:06.09. During the 400 fee relay Steele set the school-record in the 100 free, swimming the first leg in 54.37, aiding the team of Hunter, Masi, and Carrather to a sixth-place finish. Individually, Steele set another school-record, taking fourth in the 200 free in a time of 1:58.85, and scored points for the Stags with a sixth-place finish in the 100 free and a 10th-place finish in the 50 free.
In their first MAAC Championship, Carrather and Lawlor also put in outstanding individual efforts as each broke a school-record. Carrather set the mark in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:10.25, good for fourth overall, and also took fifth in the 100 back and sixth in the 200 free. Lawlor took ninth-place and broke the school-record in the 200 breast with a time of 2:31.41, and also scored for the Stags with a sixth-place finish in the 100 breast.
Hunter scored the most points for the Stags during the meet, racking up 46 individual points while taking third-place finishes in both the 400 IM and the 500 free while placing fifth overall in the 1,650 free. Junior Kate Roche (Stratford, Conn.) also had a big weekend for Fairfield, placing seventh in the 1,000 free, ninth in the 1,650 free and 10th in the 500 free.
Masi, Dent and freshmen Rachel Waldstein (Needham, Mass.), who were integral members of the Stags relay teams, put in solid individual efforts as well. Masi took seventh in the 50 free, 13th in the 200 free and 16th in the 100 free while Dent was ninth in the 200 back and 10th in the 100 back. Waldstein finished 12th overall in the 200 fly, 14th in the 100 fly and 16th in the 200 IM.
Junior Bridget McKeon (Hamden, Conn.), a distance freestyle swimmer, had 12th-place finishes across the board in the 500 free, 1,000 free and 1,650 free.
Rounding out the individual scorers were freshmen Colleen Stranzl (Wyckoff, N.J.) and Christine Pfeifer (Middle Village, N.Y.) who took 14th in the 400 IM and16th in the 200 breaststroke, respectively.
The 200 medley relay team of Dent, Lawlor, Waldstein, and Masi took sixth overall with a time of 1:53.97 while Masi, Dent, Hunter, and Steele took seventh in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:41.61.
The men were led by freshmen Robert Willhoit (West Orange, N.J.) who broke two school-records over the weekend and junior Sean Killelea (Suffern, N.Y.), who broke one. Willhoit set new standards in the 200 back, placing fifth overall with a time of 1:56.06, and the 100 back, where he finished 11th overall with a time of 54.34. Killelea finished the 400 IM in sixth-place with a school-record setting time of 4:15.46. Willhoit also turned in a 12th-place finish in the 200 free while Killelea place eighth in the 200 breast and ninth in the100 breast.
Junior Raul Delgadillo (West Allis, Wisc.) also scored big points for the Stags with a ninth-place finish in the 400 IM, a 10th-place finish in the 100 breast and a 13th-place finish in the 200 breast.
Freshman Brian Lloyd (New Milford, N.J.), junior Matt McAndrew (Dunmore, Pa.), and freshman Sean McGonigle (Philadelphia, Pa.) all scored points with Fairfield's relay teams, as well as individually. Lloyd took 12th overall in the 200 back, 13th in the 100 back and 14th in the 400 IM while McAndrew placed 13th overall in the 200 back and 14th in the 100 back. McGonigle took 16th-place finishes in both the 1,000 and 1,650 free events.
Freshmen Robert Devine (Norwalk, Conn.) and Thomas Scanlon (Arlington, Va.) each scored 11 points for the Stags as they finished 12th and 14th in the 1,000 free and 11th and 15th in the 1,650 free, respectively. Scanlon also took an 11th-place finish in the 400 IM
Sophomore Tom Scappaticci (West Harrison, N.Y.) rounded out the individual scoring for Fairfield with a 16th-place finish in the 200 back.
In the men's relays, Willhoit, Killelea, Delgadillo, and McAndrew teamed up twice, taking sixth in the 400 medley relay and seventh in the 400 free relay. The 800 free relay team of Willhoit, Killelea, McGonigle, and Delgadillo had the best finish of the weekend, taking fifth overall while the 200 free relay team of McAndrew, McGonigle, Lloyd, and junior Mark Paciotti (East Stoudsburg, Pa.) took sixth.
For the diving events, the Stags were led by junior Rob Penwell (Chatham, N.J.) and senior Chrissie Mayr (Rockville Center, N.Y.). Penwell scored 217.90 points on the one-meter board to finish fourth ovearall and 318.00 on the three-meter board to take seventh. Mayr finished fifth on the three-meter with 359.35 points and eighth on the one-meter with 169.10 points.
Freshman Katharine Yee (Bethesda, Md.) took sixth on the one-meter and 13th on the three meter while classmate Jennifer Silvia (Osterville, Mass.) placed 12th overall on both boards.
Sophomore Diego Ibarra (Fairview, N.J.) improved on his performance from last year's championship with a ninth-place finish on the three-meter and a 10th-place finish on the one-meter. Junior Jon Barrett (Caldwell, N.J.) finished 11th on both boards while sophomore Charles Laub (Ranco Santa Fe, Calif.) placed 12th on both boards.
The women's team finished in fourth-place overall with a total of 420 points while Marist won the Championship with 731 points. Rider came in second-place overall with 689 points while the host Greyhounds took third with 625 points.
The men's team finished in sixth-place with 317 points, 14.5 points shy of fifth-place Niagara. The Red Foxes won the men's title with 852 points while Rider came in second with 792 points. The Greyhounds took third overall with 552 points and Iona took fourth-place with 424.5 points.
