Men’s Swimming Finishes Eighth at A-10 Championship

Complete Results | Photo Gallery
 
The 2015 Atlantic 10 Swimming & Diving Championship came to an end on Saturday night at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
 
The University of Massachusetts edged out St. Bonaventure, 589.5 to 569, to win the Atlantic 10 Championship.  George Mason took third with 525 points, followed by La Salle (449.5), Saint Louis (335), Davidson (335), George Washington (301.5), and Fordham (272.5).
 
The night began with the 1650 freestyle event, where the trio of Steve Sholdra, Liam Semple and Andrew Hendrickson all scored for the Rams.  Sholdra took bronze with an NCAA "B" cut time of 15:27.55, while Semple was seventh (15:46.97) and Hendrickson took 12^th (16:06.67).
 
In the 200 backstroke, Fordham's J.T. Klimko made the "B" final, finishing fourth in that heat in a season-best time of 1:49.82, good for 12^th overall.
 
The next event was the 100 freestyle, where Fordham's top perfomer was Joe Mercurio, who placed 24^th in the preliminaries in 46.39 seconds.
 
The 200 breaststroke event saw Zachary Jacobsen just miss the final, as he took 18^th in the preliminaries in a time of 2:06.77.

 
The final individual event was the 200 butterfly, where four Rams were in the finals. First in the "B" final, Patrick Militti was fifth in the heat in 1:51.61 (13^th overall), followed by Chris Viera in sixth (1:52.15 – 14^th overall), and Kevin Kosciuk in eighth (16^th overall – 1:52.20).  Then, Sholdra added to his medal collection, taking second in the "A" final to earn Second Team All-Atlantic 10 honors in a school record and NCAA "B" cut time of 1:47.93.
 
The final event of the championship was the 400 freestyle relay, where Fordham's team of Semple, Mercurio, Thomas Shetler, and Militti took eighth in a season-best time of 3:04.18.
 
Overall, Fordham earned All-Atlantic 10 honors in two events, set three school records, and registered three NCAA "B" cut times during the Championship.
 
First Team All-Atlantic 10
Steve Sholdra – 400 IM
 
Second Team All-Atlantic 10
Steve Sholdra – 200 butterfly
 
School Records
Steve Sholdra – 400 IM – 3:52.72
Steve Sholdra – 200 butterfly – 1:47.93
Liam Semple – 500 freestyle – 4:28.24
 
NCAA "B" Cut Times
Steve Sholdra – 200 butterfly – 1:47.93
Steve Sholdra - 400 IM - 3:52.72
Steve Sholdra – 1650 freestyle – 15:27.55