November 19, 2006 - 3rd of 5 at Bucknell Invitational
November 19, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Swimming & Diving
Rider at Bucknell Invitational – Day Two
Women 3rd of 5
LEWISBURG, Pa.— It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you swim against the toughest competition.
Facing some of that top competition at the Bucknell Invitational this weekend, the Broncs have plenty to be optimistic about with the women’s team placing third overall. Overall, the men and women combined for 12 individual titles and two relay championships.
For the women’s team, senior Lauren Urbanski (Lansdowne, Pa./Upper Darby) won the 100 butterfly (57.42), with sophomore Amanda Burke (Churchville, Pa./William Tennett) winning the three-meter dive (237.15).
“I had no idea that I was going to swim this fast,” said Urbanski. “I wasn’t relaxing earlier in the year and this weekend, I just went out and swam and dropped my times. I had the mentality to not worry about anything and it worked out for me.”
“Lauren set a Rider record and Bucknell pool record on Saturday with a 200 butterfly time of 2:04.31 and that’s impressive, considering all of the events that are contested at the Kinney Natatorium,” said head coach Steve Fletcher. “She qualified for the U.S. Open Championships at Purdue at the end of the month and for Lauren to be able to compete on the National level is very impressive and a well deserved honor.”
With only 14 swimmers and divers on the roster, the men’s team placed fifth but took home five first place finishes.
“When the team is shorthanded you take some hits and suffer a little in your wins and losses,” said Fletcher. “But you need to face the tough competition in order to be successful in the conference meet in February and that’s the goal, to do our best times in the MAAC’s. You need to schedule up whenever you can.”
The Broncs dove in against Binghamton, Bucknell, Old Dominion and Towson in the two-day event.
“We’ve been working on the strength of the schedule for about the last three or four years,” said Fletcher. “Our intention is to swim against the top swimmers in the country to make our swimmers that much better. It helps recruit and build the program when you know you will be facing the best because it makes you a better athlete and your times drop.”
Sophomore Priscilla Modrov (Smithtown, N.Y./Hauppauge) won the 400 IM (4:31.19) and placed second in the 100 butterfly (58.66).
“We look to swim against schools that post the top times and win their own conference championships so we will know what it takes to compete and beat them when we get into our league and the conference meet,” Fletcher added.
“I wouldn’t want our schedule to be any other way,” said Urbanski. “It makes us tougher and no one likes to lose but we are swimming against great teams and this will allow us to drop our times at the conference championships. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
For the men’s team, senior Andy French (Richfield, Minn./Richfield Senior) won the 500 free (4:43.45) with junior Dylan Korn (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) winning the three-meter dive (314.50).
“We all stepped up this weekend after battling through a tough first semester,” said French who won the 1650 free on Saturday with a time of 16:20.60. “The younger swimmers saw this weekend the end result of all of the hard work that they have put in and hopefully will use this as a springboard into the rest of the schedule and the conference championships.”
“The competition was very good and we all saw some serious time drops,” French added. “Fifth place doesn’t accurately show how well we did because of the depth of the team but if you look at the improvement in the times that everyone posted, you can see that we are getting better with each race.”
“We have great upperclassmen and great senior leadership,” Fletcher added. “You worry a little about the confidence of the young swimmers handling these meets but with the seniors that we have, they have really helped bring the team along and kept the team focused on the goals that lie ahead. Our freshmen have handled the early season schedule well, due for the most part to the senior leadership.”
“I am working hard as a senior to setup the team so that the next set of leaders is ready to step in and continue the things that we are doing,” French said. “We have a strong class coming in next year and combined with this year’s freshman class, we will have a strong foundation for the future and I want to do everything I can to show them what they need to do to be successful and race ahead of our competition.”
The women’s 200 medley relay of freshman Kellyanne Tomasula (Sussex, N.J./Vernon Township), Urbanski, Modrov and junior Stephanie Cosentino (Staten Island, N.Y./Notre Dame Academy) won with a time of 1:48.40.
“It is easy to lead a team like this,” said Urbanski. “Everyone is swimming well and supporting each other and it’s been a pleasure helping the younger swimmers this year.”
Rider travels to the U.S. Open Swimming Championships, hosted by Purdue University, November 30-December 2.
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