One weekend each year, all hell breaks loose in the waters of Erie Community College in Buffalo, N.Y. for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships. After four days of competition, the women’s team finished in 6th place with 319 points while the men’s team came in 9th place with 172.5 points on the weekend.
As has been the case throughout the season, the women’s squad put forth a balanced effort in each event in Buffalo. Freshman Colleen Young and Emily Vlass ‘19 garnered the best finishes in the pool on the weekend as they placed 4th and 5th respectively in the 200m breastroke A-Final. Both swimmers posted personal best times in their races.
Sophomore Kelly Cordes had herself a quality weekend as the swimmer posted an 8th place finish in the 100m freestyle with a personal best time in the A-Final. Freshman Katelyn Hahn showcased her skills in her MAAC Championship debut with a 15th place finish in the 1650m freestyle.
Finally, Grace Goddard ‘19 and Betsy Powers ‘20 represented the Stags well in the B-Final of the 200m butterfly. Goddard claimed a 9th place marker and Powers rode a personal best time to a 14th place finish.
On the men’s side, four Fairfield swimmers set the pace in the 1650m freestyle, all finishing the race with a personal best time. Junior Jameson Duncan came in 13th place while the freshman trio of Phillip Zyskowski, Michael Sparks and Austin Kenyon claimed 14th, 17th and 18th place respectively.
Freshman Griffin Burke was the headliner for the red and white in Buffalo as the freshman from California set a school record in the 200m backstroke. Burke shattered a record that had been held since 2012 by Paul Bimmler ‘13.
The only Stag relay to place on the weekend was the group of Andrew Tavcar ‘17, Jordan Rahurahu ‘20, Zyskowski ‘20 and Justin Touve ‘19. The squad clocked in at 8th place in the 400m freestyle relay.
In the weekend’s diving finals, the women’s team had a strong showing with two divers placing in their individual meets. Junior Kylie More captured 8th place in the 1m A-Final competition while Leah Pawelczyk ‘17 grabbed 12th place in the 1m B-Final.
While neither team returned to Stag Country satisfied with their collective performances in Buffalo, numerous Fairfield swimmers had banner weekends up north. With so many young swimmers on both the women’s and men’s side returning next year, look for the Stags to be better than ever at the MAAC Championships come next winter.
Leave a Reply