Swimming & Diving Sends Senior Class Off With a Sweep

Results | Senior Night Photo Gallery
 
The Fordham swimming & diving team honored its senior class by closing out the 2013-14 regular season in style with a sweep of St. Francis (NY) College, 120-71 in the women's competition and 130.5-84.5 in the men's, at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center on Thursday night.
 
After postponing the meet by a day due to inclement weather, the Rams honored their seven seniors, Nicolas Alemann, Michael Grimmett-Norris, Nicholas Belfanti, Ben Dwyer, Shintaro Noguchi, Shannon Jones, and Kara Field, prior to the start of the session.
 
The Rams started the night with victories in both editions of the 200 medley relay.  The women's team of Jordan Tomimatsu, Megan Polaha, Frances Warren, and Morgan Fairclough posted a winning time of 1:51.99, while the men's winning team of Noguchi, Steve Sholdra, Thomas Shetler, and Belfanti recorded a time of 1:37.12.
 
From there, Fordham rattled off 14 straight swimming wins, led by sophomores Kurtis Rossie and Sholdra.  Rossie won the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events in 49.20 seconds and 1:45.64, respectively.  Sholdra posted victories in the 200-yard individual medley (1:55.88) and the 100-yard butterfly (52.59).
 
Other men's winners in that stretch included Noguchi in the 50-yard freestyle (21.11), Joseph Parisi in the 100-yard backstroke (54.75), and Grimmett-Norris in the 500-yard freestyle (4:51.86).
 
On the women's side, seven different winners emerged, which began with Megan Gray taking home the 200-yard freestyle in a season-best time of 1:55.29, while Aurelia O'Keefe won the 50-yard freestyle in 25.22 seconds.
 
The Rams also got wins from Shannon Lulley in the 200-yard individual medley (2:11.03), Kalena Luarent in the 100-yard butterfly (56.83), Meg Foster in the 100-yard freestyle (54.29), Chandler Lulley in the 100-yard backstroke (1:00.42), and Natalie Malicki in the 500-yard freestyle (5:04.49).
 
Following the 14 straight wins, Fordham ended the meet with Nicholas D'Souza winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:03.00, while the women's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Kelly Carroll, Field, Megan Zarriello, and Jones won their event in 1:40.37.
 
In diving, Fordham's Hanul Moon won both men's events, posting season-best scores of 269.40 on the one-meter board and 277.35 on the three-meter board, while Hailey Cox won the women's one-meter event with a score of 214.85.
 
The Fordham swimming & diving team will next be in action on February 19-22, as the Rams compete in the 2014 Atlantic 10 Championship, held at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.