December 2, 2007 - at Princeton's Big Al Invitational - Rider 8th of 11 - Modrov & Tomasula set team records
December 2, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Swimming & Diving
Rider at Princeton University’s
‘Big Al’ Invitational
Men: 6th of 7 Women: 8th of 11
Priscilla Modrov Sets Two Rider Records
Kellyanne Tomasula Sets Rider Record in 100 Back
PRINCETON—Both the Rider men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are competing at the ‘Big Al’ Invitational, hosted by Princeton University this weekend at DeNunzio Pool. Overall, the men were sixth of seven teams with the women placing eighth of 11 teams. At the invitational, junior Priscilla Modrov (Smithtown, N.Y./Hauppauge) set Rider records in the 100 fly and 200 fly with sophomore Kellyanne Tomasula (Sussex, N.J./Vernon Township) breaking the Rider record in the 100 back. "I was very pleased with everyone's performance this weekend," said head coach Steve Fletcher. "We had improved performances from every athlete on the team and we stood together as a team in a tough environment."
For the Rider women’s team on Sunday, Modrov was sixth in the 200 fly with a new Rider record time of 2:03.20, less than one second away from an NCAA consideration cut time. Modrov set the 100 fly record on Saturday with a time of 56.58 with Tomasula also re-writing the record books on Saturday with a 100 back time of 100 back 56.89.
For the Rider men’s team freshman Drew Modrov (Smithtown, N.Y./Hauppauge) was 11th in the 100 free (46.31), freshman Ryan Nelthropp (Christiansted, V.I./St. Croix Country Day) was 14th in the 200 fly (1:55.89), freshman Dave Farfan (Houston, Texas/Lamar) was 15th in the 200 fly (1:56.37) and freshman Mike Tubb (Swedesboro, N.J./St. Augustine Prep.) was 15th in the 200 breast (2:12.93).
"The freshmen are developing at a fast pace," Fletcher added. "It looks like they are on track for a very successful second semester."
The invitational, hosted by Princeton, the defending Ivy League champion, included Rider, Brown, Bucknell, Columbia, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Washington State and the host Tigers.
"We swim in this type of meet, this type of environment to develop faster athletes," Fletcher said. "You have to balance the mental aspect of maybe getting beat by some stronger swimmers and by doing that, you develop a mental toughness to see what you have to do to swim faster and close that gap and we did that this weekend."
Also for the men, senior Peter Starr (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown Area Senior) was 18th in the 200 back (1:56.34) with senior Matt Bauer (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) placing 20th in the 200 breast (2:16.69).
Also for the women's team, sophomore Lovette Leonhard (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) placed 21st in the 1650 free (17:53.72).
The men's 400 free relay of sophomore Scott Player (Chino Hills, Calif./Ruben S. Ayala), Modrov, Starr and Nelthropp placed ninth with a time of 3:11.09.
The women's 400 free relay of Modrov, senior Stephanie Cosentino (Staten Island, N.Y./Notre Dame Academy), freshman Alicia Fimple (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby) and sophomore Kellyanne Tomasula (Sussex, N.J./Vernon Township) placed 13th with a time of 3:34.84.
The top performance of the meet belonged to junior diver Amanda Burke (Churchville, Pa./William Tennent) who won the one-meter (276.80) after placing second in the three-meter (267.55). "Amanda defeated a diver that went to NCAA's last year," said Fletcher. "Her performance will give her a lot of confidence going into the dual meets in January and for the rest of the season."
"Amanda did well," said Rider diving coach Dennis Ceppa who himself is a two-time MAAC coach of the year. "She was consistent through out her events and I even think she could have done a little better in some of the dives. Her first place finish was awesome. She won the one-meter by less than a point and that's going to help her mentally. There was no comfort level in the meet and she had to hit every dive and that simulates what it will be like at MAAC's and at the NCAA zone championships."
"I thought all of the divers did a great job going against some of the elite divers in the nation," Ceppa added. "Looking at the other divers, our team now knows what they have to do to become better and more consistent. You make think you are training as hard as you can and then you see what others in the nation are doing and that makes you take it up another level and it was important for the team to experience that this weekend. You have to be willing to risk your confidence a little in order to become better. You need to be able to test yourself so you know what to expect as the meets become more important. We take each meet that we compete in as a learning experience so that we train harder and keep improving."
After the winter break trip to Florida, the Broncs are back in action on January 12, 2008, hosting Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rival Loyola at Coppola Pool on the Lawrenceville campus at 1:00pm.
"All three records team records that were set would have been conference records had they occurred at the MAAC championships," said Fletcher. "That bodes well for us heading into the dual meet season and MAAC's in the middle of February."
-RU-
