Just because it’s December and starting to get cold here in the Northeast doesn’t mean the Fairfield University swimming and diving team stops swimming. The Eastern College Athletic Conference Winter Championships took place in Long Island, N.Y. this past Sunday, Dec. 3 and both the men’s and women’s team competed. Both teams performed well as the men finished in third place while the women came in second.
Senior Kylie More was the first to have an impressive performance, coming in third place in the 1-Meter Dive with an overall score of 229.10. First-year Haleigh McLaughlin came in second place in the 1650-yard Freestyle with a final time of 17:19.40. Her time set a new program record, surpassing Meredith LaBerge’s ‘15 time of 17:34.17 that was set back in 2015. First-year Sarah Herbold was also among the Fairfield record breakers on the day, finishing third in the 500-yard Freestyle with a time of 5:02.11. First-years Morgan Hansen and Sara Ostensen also set new program records in the 100 and 200-yard Butterfly.
Relay events for the women included some record shattering performances as well. First-year Rachel Landry, Sarah Herbold ‘21, Kelly Cordes ‘19 and Ostensen finished in second place in the 800-yard Freestyle Relay with their own new program record of 7:37.22. First-year Maria Nitti, Cordes, Herbold and Ostensen set a new program record with a final time of 3:32.94 in their fourth place 400-yard Freestyle Relay finish. The 200-yard Medley Relay team set a new program record with a sixth place time of 1:47.43.
First-year Benjamin Kebbell was the quintessential over performer on the men’s side, finishing in second place in the 200-yard Backstroke with a new record of 1:54.31, besting Griffin Burke’s ‘20 record of 1:55.04 set last year. He also added another record crushing time in the 100-yard Backstroke to round out his individual day.
Three top 10 finishes for the men’s relay teams showcased how hard they worked over the course of the weekend. Kebbell, Phillip Zyskowski ‘20, Burke and Jordan Rahurahu ‘20 placed third in the 800-yard Freestyle Relay with a final time of 7:04.91. The 200-yard Freestyle Relay team also placed third, lead by Kebbell, Zyskowski, Nicholas Adams ‘20 and Rahurahu. The final third place finish came from the 400-yard Freestyle Relay team, made up of Kebbell, Ian Nelson ‘20, Zyskowski and Rahurahu, with a time of 3:12.36.
With how well the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have performed recently, they are poised for much more success when they host Wagner and Saint Peter’s in the Fairfield Tri-Meet next month. The event will take place on Friday, Jan. 5 at 4 p.m.
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