The Fairfield University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams hosted Monmouth University on Saturday, Oct. 15 for their first dual meet of the season.
The Stags dominated the Hawks, with the men’s team posting a 207-81 victory and the women’s team securing a 221-73 win, according to Fairfieldstags.com.
The men’s swimming team dominated in all facets of the meet. They ended up securing ten individual first-place finishes, as well as concluding five events with two swimmers finishing in the top two.
The 800-meter freestyle was the first of five events in which the Stags featured two swimmers finishing in the top two, with sophomores Joseph Stewart and Joey Nizzardo finishing back-to-back with times of 8:29.09 and 8:31.72, respectively. The next event in which the Stags took the sweep was in the 100-meter breaststroke, with Chris Ford‘23 taking first with a time of 1:04.37 and Jeffrey Vlass‘25 coming in not too far behind him with the clock reading 1:06.92.
The 200-meter fly event featured more Stag dominance, with Ed Hunt‘23 completing his event with a time of 2:06.25 and Stewart coming in one second later with a time of 2:07.87. Ford and Vlass would once again finish first and second in the 200-meter breaststroke with corresponding times of 2:24.80 and 2:25.35. Other outstanding individual performances for the Stags included Alexey Belfer‘24 finishing first in the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyles with times of 23.38 and 52.75 respectively. First-year Tim Regan and Oliver McLaughlin ‘26 also had solid performances in the 200-meter freestyle, 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke.
The women’s team also dominated on Saturday, with the team winning 11 individual events, as well as finishing in the top two in seven out of eleven races they participated in.
Lily Barker ‘25 and Erin Hoyland ‘25 got things started in the 800-meter freestyle, finishing in first and second with times of 9:30.14 and 9:37.01, respectively. The superiority did not stop there, as Sydney Scalise ‘25 and Laina Bayles ‘23 took the one-two punch with corresponding times of 2:12.49 and 2:14.70 in the 200-meter freestyle.
The women’s team also saw high levels of success in the 100-meter breaststroke, with Cailey Stockwell ‘26 and Alison Sposili ‘25 finishing with times of 1:15.76 and 1:16.34, another strong back-to-back finish for the Stags. They would ultimately accomplish another successful back-to-back performance, finishing with times of 2:42.12 and 2:43.41 respectively in the 200-meter backstroke. Scalise and Barker would finish first and second in the 400-meter freestyle with respectable times of 4:37.55 and 4:37.89, while Erini Pappas ‘25 and Sposoli would go back-to-back in the 200-meter Individual Medley with efficient times of 2:23.09 and 2:29.04.
Pappas had a very successful individual day, with her performance in the 200-meter IM being one of her three first-place finishes. In the 100-meter backstroke, she touched the back wall at the 1:04.32 minute mark. She was just as successful in the 200-meter backstroke, completing the event with a 2:19.30 time.
The Diving team also had an exceptional day, with the men’s side being led by Sam Tonole ‘23 (160.20) and Noah Duncan ‘25 (144.75) taking first and second in the 1-meter dive. Toole and Duncan also scored 149.85 and 141.90 points in the 3-meter dive, respectively. The women’s side featured Alexis Gaulin ‘24 (185.85), Lia Oppenheim ‘25 (163.65), and Elizabeth Beailieu ‘25 (118.95) completing their 1-meter dive in the top three. They repeated this performance in the 3-meter dive, finishing in the same places with respective point totals of 207.75, 182.70 and 163.05 in the event.
The Stags are currently preparing for their next meets, which will be held on back-to-back days against Providence College and College of the Holy Cross on Oct. 28 and 29 respectively. For more information on the Fairfield swimming and diving team, as well as Fairfield athletics as a whole, please visit www.fairfieldstags.com.
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