Buffalo, N.Y. - (Feb. 18, 2009) - The Fordham swimming & diving teams got off to a fantastic start at the 2009 Atlantic 10 Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, held at the Flickinger Center in Buffalo, New York. The Rams broke four school records and one Atlantic 10 record, as the women sit second, while the men are fifth.
The highlight of the evening came in the women's 800-yard freestyle relay, as the Rams turned in an Atlantic 10 conference record of 7:24.25 to win the event by three seconds over second place Richmond.
The team of juniors Caitlin Napoli and Tressa Dunn and freshmen Kelly Bunster and Courtney Collyer teamed up to break the record of 7:28.19 set by Richmond in 2007. The time was also a Fordham school record by close to 14 seconds, toppling the old mark of 7:38.98, set in 2007.
In addition to that mark, Dunn's opening time of 1:51.61 in the first 200 meters also set a school record, besting Napoli's 2007 record of 1:51.71.
The records continued to fall in the 200 medley relays, as the Fordham women were second overall in a school record time of 1:43.51. The team of sophomore Christina Cosentino, Bunster, Dunn, and junior Nicole Marshall broke the old mark of 1:45.95, set last season.
The Fordham men quickly followed with their own school record in the 200 medley relay, breaking a 13-year old mark. The team of juniors Ryan and
Justin Coombs, sophomore
Billy Colton, and freshman
Sean McManus placed third overall in a time of 1:31.62, breaking the old mark of 1:33.00, set in 1996.
In the other two events held on Wednesday, the men's 800 freestyle relay team (
Eric Prendergast,
Tim Gusick,
Jason Dobbs, and
Robert Gitman) placed seventh overall in 6:54.59, while in the women's one-meter dive, both Andrea Krok and Elizabeth Dorger scored for the Rams. Krok was fifth overall with a score of 232.95, while Dorger was eighth with a total of 201.55.
So far, UMass holds the lead on the women's side with 107 points after three events. They are followed by Fordham (99), defending champion Richmond (74), Saint Louis (72), La Salle (68), Duquesne (62), St. Bonaventure (59), Xavier (56), Rhode Island (56) and George Washington (38).
Xavier sits atop the men's standings with 69 points after two events, followed by defending champion UMass (66) and Duquesne (58). Rounding up the scoring are La Salle (57), Fordham (56), Saint Louis (52), George Washington (52) and St. Bonaventure (40).
The championships continue Thursday with morning trials at 10:30am and finals at 6:30pm.
