Stags season looks to go swimmingly

Following a successful 2003-2004 campaign, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams look to repeat last year’s performance.

The 2003-2004 Stags’ season concluded with one of the best finishes in the ECAC Championships in recent history.

The women’s team was twelfth in the ECAC while the men finished twenty-fourth.

Both teams also finished fifth in the MAAC Championship last year.

Fairfield lost few athletes and gained many freshmen for this year’s team.

The addition to the women’s team makes them more well rounded and deeper then they already are. The men will also have more depth with the newcomers.

On October 23, the first meet of the year, the men’s team fell to Niagara 96-140 while the women won 139-105.

The Stags home-opener came against Providence and Georgetown. The men and women both beat Providence, but lost to Georgetown.

MAAC foe, Loyola, downed the Stags, barely edging the women 126-115.

“It was a close meet with Loyola and we were happy with our performances,” said Coach Bill Farley.

Fairfield headed to Marist to take on the Red Foxes and St. Peters.

The men drowned St. Peters 168-46, but lost to Marist 150.5 to 76.5. The women would do the same, beating St. Peters 169-62 and losing to Marist 127-103.

“I do not believe the way we swam last weekend is at all representative of what and who we are,” said Farley.

The 200-yard medley relay team set a school record against Loyola. Freshmen Sarah Dent, Elizabeth Lawlor, Rachel Waldstein and sophomore Jennifer Masi combined for the 2:06.54 record.

Robert Willhoit ’08 broke a record for the men, breaking the 200-backstroke with a time of 2:14.30.

Other winners in the meet included captain Raul Delgadillo ’06 who won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:04.35.

Fairfield finished first, second, and third in the 500-yard freestyle, captain Kelly Steele ’05, Kate Roche ’06 and Lauren Capozzi ’08, respectively.

The women are 3-3 to date while the men are 2-4.

Coach Bill Farley feels his teams are underachieving.

“Up to last weekend, the records did not indicate how well they were doing as several school records were already broken,” said Farley.

The men came into this season strong at backstroke and freestyle. The women came in with a strong backstroke and breaststroke groups which include Brittany Hunter ’07, who holds multiple school records.

The Stags have some big meets coming up against Iona, Siena and Sacred Heart.

The big meet before Christmas break will be the Nutmeg Invitational.

Three of the upcoming meets will be within a period of a week.

The teams will be working on correcting the mistakes from the Marist meet in order to be a stronger contender in the MAAC.