Fairfield Invitational Diving Release
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University men's and women's swimming teams opened the 2021-22 season with its portion of the two-day Fairfield Invitational by winning the event over Sacred Heart University, Southern Connecticut State University, and Manhattan College.
The women's team scored 664 points followed by Sacred Heart (582 points), Southern Connecticut (265 points), and Manhattan (53 points). The men's team secured the top spot with 729 points with Southern Connecticut (391 points) and Manhattan (164 points) rounding out the field.
Three Stags set school record during the Invitational, namely
Sydney Scalise in the 200 free (2:07.61),
Erini Pappas (2:24.13) in the 200 IM, and Ed Hunt (2:08.63) in the 200 IM. The trio were part of 26 Fairfield winners during the event which includes Dillion O'Connor's 3 meter victory during Friday night's diving competition.
The women's medley relay secured the top spot with a time of 2:02.20 behind the efforts of
Erini Pappas,
Alison Sposili,
Maggie O'Donnell, and
Olivia Thompson as did the men's medley relay team (1:47.15) which was comprised by Will Robinson, Chris Ford, Evan Fair, and Alex Belfer.
The men's free relay also touched the wall ahead of all competitors by completing the race in 3:36.70. The foursome included Fair, Belfer, Joe Stewart, and Peter Gori. The women's free relay also scored first as Scalise, Thompson,
Madelynn Mowad, and
Serafina Viola timed out at 4:06.17.
In the 800,
Erin Hoyland (9:36.62) and Joey Nizzardo (8:45.05) were the winners of the event while Pappas (1:04.57) and Gori (1:01.67) had the same result in the
100 back. The Stags also swept the
50 free behind the performances of Thompson (27.64) and Belfer (23.71), the
100 free by Thompson (1:00.60) and Gori (53.68), the
200 back through the efforts of Pappas (2:19.06) and Chris Chumbley (2:16.48), the
200 breast by Sposili (2:45.19) and Jeff Vlass (2:28.07), and the
400 free by Scalise (4:33.11) and Joe Stewart (4:10.19).
Stewart also was winner in the 200 free by running the course in 1:55.05, while Hunt was a multiple winner with his placement in the 200 fly (2:07.51). Ford took the top spot in the 100 breast after registering his time of 1:06.87 with Fair taking the 100 fly with his time of 59.21.
The Stags will return to the pool on Saturday, October 16 when they take to the road for the first time with a meet at Monmouth University which begins at noon. Fairfield does not return to RecPlex Pool until October 30 when it hosts Providence College with diving starting at 11 am and swimming beginning at 1 pm.
