This past week, the Fairfield men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams traveled to Ohio to compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships! The Stags had a very eventful and successful weekend with many first-place finishes and other top-ten finishes.
The women’s team placed second overall and the men’s team placed fourth overall!
Apart from the incredible swim and dive performances from the week, the team atmosphere was super supportive and encouraging this week! Junior captain, Bella Tejeda, felt that “we were genuinely excited to see each other succeed and that is not something I saw in many other teams at the meet.”
With the incredible atmosphere this past week the Stags were able to score in many events. Some first-place finishes this weekend are; the women’s 200 medley relay (Junior Ereni Pappas, Freshman Tone Sandsjö, Senior Maggie O’Donnell, Graduate Student Segurola-Larrinaga), Senior Alexis Gaulin 1m dive, Segurola Larrinaga 50 free, Freshman Andrew Cataldo 3m dive, women’s 400 medley relay (Pappas, Sandsjö, O’Donnell, Segurola-Larrinaga), Sandsjö 100 breast, Segurola-Larrinaga 100 back, Gaulin 3m dive. Congratulations to all!
There were also a lot of record-breaking this past weekend in many different events. To name a few; women’s 200 medley relay (MAAC and Fairfield record), women’s 1m dive (Fairfield record), women’s 100 breast (MAAC and Fairfield record), men’s 800 free relay (Fairfield record), men’s 50 free (Fairfield record), women’s 200 free relay (Fairfield record).
Sandsjö, who took first place in the 100 breast, said “I have never thought about our team as two different teams and I think that that is kind of rare. I hang out and cheer for the men in the same way I do for the women, and that’s how I think it should be.” Many athletes I think will agree with this because having a team environment is one of the most important things to have in order for your team to be successful. And it seems like Fairfield Swimming and Diving does an incredible job with that!
Tejeda explains that “the season as a whole was a roller coaster, with a lot of swimmers and divers being in and out of the water due to injuries and sickness.” However, we were able to pull it together for MAACs and ended with a great outcome.” Even though the swim and dive team experienced some setbacks they allowed themselves to bounce back and stay positive to have a tremendously successful season!
To highlight even more accomplishments from this past week, Cataldo received the award for “Most Outstanding Diver” and “Diving Rookie of the Meet”, Freshman Lily Tonole received “Diving Rookie of the Meet”, Segurola-Larrinaga received “Most Outstanding Swimmer”, Gaulin received “Most Outstanding Diver”, Coach Devon O’Nalty received “Diving Coach of the Year, and Coach Jacy Dyer received “Swimming Coach of the Year”. Another huge congrats for everyone’s accomplishments this past week!
The MAAC championships conclude the swim and dive season! I know a lot of swimmers will agree with Sandsjö, who says “After this season, I feel like it’s time to enjoy my time off and do things I really like! I’m excited about not waking up before 6 every morning.”
Another huge congratulations to all of the swimmers, divers, and coaches this past weekend for a great season! For more information regarding the Fairfield men’s and women’s swim and dive team, please visit www.fairfieldstags.com.
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