AMHERST, Mass. –
Natasha De Pree and
Tone Sandsjo each set pool records while De Pree added a school standard to her performance as the Fairfield University swimming and diving programs dropped decisions to UMass. The men's team fell by a 189-110 count while the women's team was edged by a 176-124 score on Saturday.
De Pree's record-setting day came in the 1000 freestyle in which she put up a time of 10:07.45 to set the two records while Sandsjo garnered a UMass pool record in the 100 breaststroke with her time of 1:02.21. The duo were part of nine first-place finish by the Stags with the women collecting five golds and the men garnering four top spots.
After De Pree and Sandsjo opened the meet with their wins, Max McMillan earned the men's first gold with his performance in the 100 backstroke, clocking in at 50.34. Caroline Gray followed up with the best time in the 200 butterfly, finishing the event in 2:05.10.
Aidan Schnapf was next on the winner's podium by taking the 200 backstroke event by touching the wall in 1:49.17. De Pree became the only Fairfield double winner on the day when she beat all of her competitors in the 500 freestyle (4:59.86).
Tim Regan and Jochi Nolla took the top two spots in the 500 freestyle by finishing in 4:36.36 and 4:37.52 respectively.
Allie Bashor continued the Stags' winning trend by picking up first-place in the 100 butterfly, taking the distance in 55.91.
Bobby Regan closed out the day for Fairfield by winning the 200 IM in the final individual event of the meet, finishing in 1:50.68.
Balasz had a solid day with a pair of runner-up performance, posting times of 55.22 in the 100 breaststroke and 1:59.64 in the 200 breaststroke.
The divers put forth top three performances in three of the four events. Lillian Tonole paced the women's divers with a third-place performances in the 1 meter with 205.50 points and a fourth-place effort in the 3 meter with 234.00 points. Andrew Cataldo earned bronze in the 3 meter with 267.30 points and silver in the 1 meter with 272.63 points.
The Fairfield swimming and diving teams will take a short break from competition before returning to the pool for the 2026 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships which takes place from February 11-14 in Geneva, Ohio.
