Three Broncs compete for spots on the U.S. Olympic Team

Three Rider Broncs are competing for spots this year on the U.S. Olympic Team. Swimmer Zack Molloy joins two former Rider University Athletes of the Year, Amanda Burke ’10 and Emily Ritter ’15, who are or will be competing for spots on the U.S. Olympic Team this summer. Molloy competed at the United States Olympic Team Trials on June 27 in Omaha, Neb., at the CenturyLink Center. On the three-meter springboard, Burke placed 11th on June 26, at Indiana University.  The trials were the second for Burke, who qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials in two events, the 3-meter dive and the 3-meter Synchronized Springboard dive. Ritter, now running with the New Jersey New York Track Club after graduating in December, ran a personal record 9:48.29 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in May and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., that take place July 1-10. Molloy, who was the 2016 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Meet as a sophomore, competed in heat six of the 200 free for a chance to qualify for the United States Olympic team and posted a time of 1:53.23 with laps of 26.22, 28.39, 28.71 and 29.91, placing 92nd of 106 competitors. Competitors at the meet were among the top one percent of swimmers in the United States, including Olympians Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, and the meet represented the sole qualifier to determine who will make the team that will compete in Rio de Janeiro in August. "It was a great honor swimming at this meet," Molloy says. "I'm glad I had the opportunity to compete in this event.” "It is a tremendous credit to Zack for having qualified and made the meet and it's a special thrill for our alumni and coaches to see a Rider cap on the pool deck at such an elite competition," says head coach Steve Fletcher. "It's all thanks to Zack's competitiveness. After racing, we had some time for a good conversation about where his swimming is headed, and I feel he is using the summer and his experience at this meet as a motivator for the upcoming NCAA season. This is going to be a great year for Zack and the Rider program." Molloy posted his qualifying time of 1:51.14 at the 2014 YMCA National Long Course meet on July 30 which was 67th best of the 115 competitors that originally declared for the 200 free in Omaha. "I didn't have any real expectations coming in to the race," Molloy added about competing alongside several former Olympians as well as the top 200 free competition in the nation. "I just wanted to go out and compete and enjoy myself at the meet." From Toms River, N.J. (Toms River HS North), Molloy won three MAAC gold medals (100 free, 200 free, 500 free) and was part of four MAAC and Rider record-setting relays, the 200 medley, the 800 free, the 200 free and the 400 free as he led the Broncs to their fifth conference title in a row in 2016.  In the 200 free, Molloy repeated as conference champion with a time of 1:36.87, bettering his own Rider and MAAC record and he helped the 800 free relay to a repeat MAAC Title as well. Molloy also helped Rider to an undefeated dual meet season (2015-16) and he helped the Broncs to a third-place finish at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship meet. An Accounting and Information Systems major, Molloy was equally as strong in the classroom, earning MAAC All-Academic honors this past spring. Four years ago Burke qualified in the 3-meter Synchronized Springboard dive and placed third, with the top two teams going to the Olympics. Since then Burke has been a member of the Olympic Performance Squad as a synchronized diver, but this year she is competing in the 3-meter as an individual. Burke, who currently trains in State College, Pa., with former Rider diving coach Dennis Ceppa. She placed seventh in the world at the 2013 FINA World Aquatic Championships in Barcelona, Spain. She placed third at the 2013 AT&T National Diving Championships in the 1-meter in Iowa. She also won the one-meter dive at the 2011 AT&T National Championships, but that is not an Olympic event. As a senior at Rider, Burke was the Eastern College Athletic Conference Champion and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Champion in both the one-meter and the three-meter dives, earning Diver of the Year honors at both championships while leading Rider to the MAAC Title. Burke owns all five Rider team diving records and all four Rider Pool diving records, as well as both MAAC diving records. In 2015, All-American Emily Ritter ’15 became the first woman and just the third athlete ever from Rider’s track and field program to compete in the NCAA Championships, where she placed ninth in the nation. She also became Rider’s first All-American track and field athlete, making her the fourth All-American female athlete in Rider history. Rider named Ritter, along with B.J. Clagon ’18 of the wrestling team, as the Rider University Athletes of the Year for 2014-15.  “Emily has had one of the greatest and most successful years you could have as an athlete,” says Rider cross country/track and field head coach Bob Hamer.  Ritter earned All-East honors in three different sports in 2014-15: cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. During the indoor season, Ritter ran in the ECAC Championship Distance Medley Relay. Ritter’s historic season wrapped up on June 25 at the USA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. Ritter had never even competed in the steeplechase before last year. The first time she competed, she won the 2014 Rider Invitational. The second time she ran it, she broke the Rider record and placed second at the 2014 MAAC Championships.  The 2016 Olympic Games are in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August. Jazmine Fenlator ’07 placed 11th in the women’s bobsled with partner Lolo Jones in the 2014 Olympic Games.