Buffalo, N.Y. - (Feb. 19, 2009) - After setting four school and one Atlantic 10 record on the first day of competition at the 2009 Atlantic 10 Swimming and Diving Championship, the Fordham University men's and women's swimming and diving teams knew they had a tough act to follow. And follow it they did, as one individual and one relay earned All-Atlantic 10 honors, with both setting school records in the process, on day two of the championships being held at the Flickinger Center in Buffalo.
Individually,
Caitlin Napoli won the 500 freestyle in a school-record time of 4:52.07 to take home First Team All-Atlantic 10 honors while the men's 200 freestyle relay of Ryan Coombs, Billy Colton, Eric Prendergast and Justin Coombs took second in a school-record time of 1:22.21 to garner Second Team All-Conference honors. Napoli shattered the old school record of 4:57.75 set by Katie Greiner in 2004 while the men's 200 free relay broke the former mark of 1:23.69 set in 2002.
Also setting school records on day two was
Nicole Marshall, Justin Coombs and the women's 200 freestyle relay. Marshall took third in the 200 IM in 2:03.83, bettering her own school mark of 2:05.84 set last year, while Justin Coombs swam a 20.72 in 50 freestyle preliminaries, breaking the old record of 20.73 set by Justin Shaw in 2003. The women's 200 free relay team of
Christina Cosentino,
Courtney Collyer,
Alexandra Alessi and Napoli placed sixth in 1:35.85, just ahead of the former record of 1:36.52 set in 2003.
The Fordham women are still in second place after two days with a team score of 195.5, 67.5 points behind Richmond. Duquesne is in third (186) followed by Massachusetts (164.5), La Salle (143), Xavier (108), St. Bonaventure (99), Saint Louis (97), George Washington (78) and Rhode Island (77).
The Fordham men are in fifth place with 155.5 points but just 12.5 points separate third from fifth place after the first two days. Massachusetts leads the men's team competition with 263.5 points followed by St. Bonaventure (207), Xavier (167), Duquesne (156), Fordham (155.5), George Washington (124), La Salle (117) and Saint Louis (116).
Other women scoring for the Rams included
Courtney Collyer, who was sixth in the 200 IM (2:05.45),
Kelly Bunster, who placed eighth in the 50 free (23.74 - season best);
Tressa Dunn, who finished tenth in the 50 free (23.80) and
Marina Montoya, who took 13th in the 200 IM (2:08.21).
Scoring for the men were Justin Coombs, who was fourth in the 50 free (20.81), Ryan Coombs, who took eighth in the 500 free (4:40.77 - season best), Benjamin Otto, who placed eighth on the one meter board (222.80), Tim Gusick, who finished tenth in the 500 free (4:36.87), Billy Colton, Eric Prendergast and Robert Gitman who placed tenth (1:54.47 - season best), eleventh (1:54.56) and 12th, respectively, in the 200 IM, Anthony Giovannone, who was 14th on the one meter board (194.85) and Lucien Monson, who took 16th in the 500 free (4:45.37).
The 2009 Atlantic 10 Championship will continue on Friday, February 20th, with morning trials at 10:30 am and finals at 6:30 pm.
