Day One Final Results (PDF)

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Fairfield University men's and women's swimming and diving finished the first day of competition at the 2011 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships with five school records and several strong performances.

 

For junior Michelle Yoshida,the two-time defending champion in the women's 50-yard freestyle, a mere one-hundredth of a second stood in the way of her third MAAC title. Yoshida stopped the clock in a record-setting time of 23.58 seconds, but Siena College's Katie Ness touched the pad in 23.57 seconds to win by the narrowest of margins. Yoshida was also a member of a record-setting relay on the night.

 

In the women's 200y individual medley, freshman Moe Osmulski won the B Final and placed ninth overall with a time of 2:10.90, breaking her own program record for the second time on the day. In the prelims, Osmulski had a time of 2:11.43, which was 1.5 seconds faster than her previous best and school record. Sophomore Cacky Keating also had a strong swim, finishing with a personal best 2:11.60 to place tenth overall in the event.

 

Senior Katie Merz captured the B Final of the 500y freestyle and picked up a ninth-place finish with an ECAC 'A' qualifying time of 5:06.76. Classmate Allison Russoniello recorded a personal best of 5:16.72, also good for ECAC qualification.

 

For the men, sophomore Paul Bimmler placed eighth overall with a time of 21.49 seconds. Junior Greg Bellizzi finished with a time of 21.57 seconds to place 12th overall. Both Bimmler and Bellizzi were members of two record-setting relays.

 

In the 200y IM, junior Brian Friedlander finished tenth overall with a time of 1:56.52 while junior Stefan Toi placed 15th overall with a time of 1:58.38.

 
The men's 200y freestyle relay of Bellizzi, Toi, junior Brendan Sarpu, and Bimmler clocked a time of 1:26.23 to set a new program record. The previous standard of 1:26.25 was set at the MAAC Championships one year ago. The 400y medley of Bimmler, Friedlander, junior Andrew Robinson and Bellizzi had a record-setting pace of 3:32.21, breaking the mark of 3:33.47 set last season at MAACs.

The women's 400y medley of Yoshida, Suzy Lawlor, Keating, and Osmulski also set a program record with a time of 3:56.19. The previous record was 3:56.52 set last season at the MAAC Championships.

In the diving events, freshman Abigail Sanders placed 14th overall on the women's 1-meter board with a score of 161.90. On the men's side, freshman Brien Bates notched an 11th place finish on the 3-meter with a score of 180.95. Sophomore Ryan Krebs was 15th with a mark of 142.00 while senior Brett Carisio was 16th with a score of 133.60.

The women's 200y freestyle relay of freshmen Emily Pedrick, Bridget McGowan, Lawlor,and Osmulski posted a time of 1:41.99.
 

After the first day of competition, the Fairfield women's team is seventh with 95 points while the men's team is eighth with 80 points. Marist College and Loyola University Maryland are leading the women's and men's fields, respectively.

 

The MAAC also announced its 2010-11 All-Academic Teams. The Fairfield women's team led the way with 18 selections in Sasha Campbell, Alyssa Conroy, Aly Crisculolo, Brenna Dean, Sam Distler, Teresa Garrity, Liz Garvey, Norah Gentile, Brigitte Germain, Emily Kelly, Merz, Caitlin Moran, Annie O'Halloran, Kim Pettit, Megan Reilly, Russoniello, Wanda Szarek, and Colleen Wilson. For the men, there were five Stags on the MAAC All-Academic Team in Bellizzi, Carisio, Anthony Caserta, Charlie Helm, and Jonathan O'Connor.

 

The second day of the three-day competition at the Burt Flickinger Athletic Center on the campus of Erie Community College begins on Friday at 10am. Live Meet Results and a Live Webcast are available for the three-day event. For complete event information, visit MAAC Championship Central.

In the prelims of the women's 500y freestyle, Distler had a personal best of 5:26.06 while Amanda Gilsey had a personal best of 5:26.52. Also posting personal bests were: Megan Kuzniewski  in 5:30.21, Germain in 5:37.00, Caroline Menapace in 5:37.31, and Szarek in 5:47.19. Wilson had a time of 5:51.41.

 

In the prelims of the 200y IM, Brianna Riley had a personal best of 2:16.64 while Garvey finished in 2:24.71 and Campbell finished in 2:25.18.

 

In the prelims of the 50y freestyle, Pedrick had an ECAC 'A' qualifying time but just missed the cut finishing in 25.13 seconds, good for a personal best. Lawlor had a personal best of 25.77 seconds. Moran finished in 26.37 seconds and was followed by McGowan in 26.62 seconds, Sam Ceglia in 26.91 seconds, Conroy in 27.07 seconds, and O'Halloran in 27.82 seconds.

 

In the prelims of the women's 1-meter diving, Pettit had a mark of 82.65.

 

In the prelims of the men's 500y freestyle, freshman Kevin Greener had a personal best of 4:53.95 while O'Connor finished in 4:55.27. Robinson had a personal best of 4:56.92 while freshman Cody Parker had a personal best of 4:57.81. Junior Tommy Peters finished in 5:01.02 while freshman Rich Straub had a personal best of 5:03.50. Tom Freda recorded a personal best of 5:30.60 while Matt Palmer finished in 5:42.54.

 

In the prelims of the 200y IM, sophomore Andrew Hiss had an ECAC 'B' qualifying time of 2:01.19. Helm, a senior, finished in 2:04.23 while Caserta had a personal best of 2:10.06.