BUFFALO, N.Y. – Freshman
Ashlee Steinberger became the first individual champion of the 2012 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships for the Fairfield University men's and women's swimming and diving teams, as the Stag swimmers set three more program records.
The men's team is in seventh place after the first day of competition, with 74 points, while the women are fifth with 81 points, and have combined for five school records.
Steinberger racked up 250.60 points in winning the women's three-meter diving event by nearly 14 points over her closest competitor. She became the first female diver to win a MAAC title since 1993 when Catherine Bassi won both events.Freshman
Lauren Kemple scored 167.95 points to finish in 12th place.
The men's team set two school records, both coming in relay events. The 200y freestyle relay sliced nearly a full second off of the school record on its way to an eighth place finish.
Brendan Sarpu (21.78),
Paul Bimmler (20.88),
Doug Leclair (21.22) and
Tyler Conley (21.46) combined to post the new program record of 1:25.34. Bimmler set second men's record of the evening as he led off the 400y medley relay with a 100y backstroke split of 52.55, surpassing the 54.23 mark he set last season. The Stags relay finished eighth in a time of 3:30.52.
Sophomore
Margaret Osmulski set the school 200 yard individual medley record for the second time in as many swims on Thursday, touching in 2:09.77, over half-a-second faster then her prelim swim. She finished ninth in the event. Ormulski started the Stags off as the lead leg of the 200y freestyle relay that placed eighth in a time of 1:40.59.
Senior
Michelle Yoshida broke her own program record in the 50y freestyle in prelims, going 23.52. She touched second in the finals Thursday night with a time of 23.66. Yoshida led off the 400y medley relay for the Stags in the final event of the night, helping Fairfield to a fifth-place finish in a time of 3:58.53.
Fairfield had four male divers place in the top-12 of the one-meter event on Thursday, paced by the sixth-place finish of freshman
Evan Barr, who scored 209.60 points. Classmate
Will Sullivan scored 207.40 points to place ninth, while junior
Ryan Krebs was 11th with 184.15 points and freshman
Joe Dowling finished 12th with 177.80 points.
In the men’s 50y freestyle, freshman
Tyler Conley finished fourth with a time of 21.10, .03 seconds off of his morning swim and .04 seconds off of the school record. Freshman
Doug Leclair finished 10th in the event, 21.30, while Bimmler finished in a time of 21.70, in 12th place.
Freshman
Meredith LaBerge swam her second personal best of the day in the 500y freestyle B Final, touching at 5:08.85, good for 12th place. Senior
Stefan Toi placed 14th in the men’s 200y IM in with a swim of 1:57.89.
The three-day event continues on Friday morning at 10 a.m. The MAAC will be streaming the event live on
MAAC.tv and
Live results are also available. For more information, visit
MAAC Championship Central.
Thursday’s Prelims
In the women’s 500y freestyle, Alyssa Acompora had a time of 5:20.02 while senior Norah Gentile had a personal best of 5:23.44. Senior Samantha Distler finished in 5:26.30 and was followed by Katherine Kraus in 5:41.68 and Megan Kuzniewski in 5:33.00.
In the women’s 200y IM, Lisa Tkach had a personal best of 2:19.18 while senior Emily Kelly finished in 2:21.64.
In the women’s 50y freestyle, Emily Pedrick finished with a time of 25.42 seconds while senior Teresa Garrity finished in 25.45 seconds. Suzy Lawlor had a personal best of 25.65 seconds while Meghan Weiser had a personal best of 26.36 seconds. Bridget McGown clocked a time of 26.74 seconds while Brianna Riley finished in 27.45 seconds.
All four Stags that competed in the men’s 500y freestyle posted personal best. Kevin Greener just missed the cut, stopping the clock in 4:47.88 while Cody Parker finished in 4:48.28; both were ECAC qualifying times. Senior Tommy Peters had a time of 4:53.51 while sophomore Rich Straub had a time of 4:57.18.
In the men’s 200y IM, senior Brian Friedlander had a time of 1:59.71. Chris Weaver finished in 2:06.93 while senior Anthony Caserta had a personal best of 2:09.34.
In the men’s 50y freestyle, senior Brendan Sarpu posted a personal best of 21.99 seconds. Classmate Andrew Robinson posted a personal best of 22.16 seconds while Kyle Rozanitis had a personal best of 23.45 seconds.
