MAAC Updates 2009/10

[MAAC Man]

If either of these teams have plans to jump in the pool this season - it best be on Saturday. Come February, it will be full of wet dogs.

MAAC Man

[localsuperhero]

For sure.

[swimrr]

Fo Sho.

Rider killed Marist in their last duel meet at Rider in 2007 but when it came time fore MAAC's, it was the Foxes jumping in the pool.

MAACs 2008 scores: 1. Marist 794.5 2. Rider 778.5
Difference=16
First place relay point value=40, 2nd place=34

Day 1, event 2, Men's 200 yd freestyle relay, Marist anchor swimmer's reaction time= -.21

http://www.maacsports.com/fls/17400/doc ... M_ID=17400

46 point swing if false start would've been called, Rider wins by 30...

[nyswmr]

Very interesting post and good observation- however, lets focus on this season and not start a flurry of post about things that happened two years ago.

[MAAC Man]

Code Cranberry. One day closer.

MAAC Man

[Chest Rockwell]

Code Cranberry. One day closer.

MAAC Man

are you serious about this code cranberry thing? I thought you'd just made the whole thing up.

[swimfan2012]

Code Cranberry is something Rider started to generate support amoung the teams within the athletic department. Each team has an assigned game/meet where the athletes of the other teams are asked to come support them at. This is Rider's only home meet while school is in session so it is their code cranberry meet. Expect a very loud pool deck!

[MAAC Man]

Code Cranberry is real.

Rider vs Marist

Men - Not a particularly fast meet but the Broncs took care of their northern rivals in a workman like manner - winning all but two events (plus one board). The two freshmen Molloy (200/500/1000) and Funk (100/200 Back and 200 IM) each won three events while senior Player (50/100 Free) won two, and another freshman, Julien Hensen added two more (100/200 breast). The only real bright spot for the Foxes was Kevin Shoemaker who won the 200 Fly and out touched Player in the 100 Fly.

Women - totally different story. The Marist and Rider women will be telling their daughters and granddaughters about this one for generations to come. One great swim after another, veterans showed the way and freshmen distinguished themselves. A three point victory that came down to the last relay. Code Cranberry working its magic at the last minute - stuff legends are made of.

For the Broncs Kellyanne Tomasula showed her versatility by winning the 100Back, 100 Fly and the 200 IM. She and Amanda Burke (Diving) were the the closest things Rider had to a sure thing. One of many keys to victory was Brianna Burns - big wins in the 50/100/200 by the slighest of margins.

The Foxes countered with freshman Chelsea Unger winning both the 100 & 200 Breast while veteran senior Jenell Walsh-Thomas decisively won the 500 and 1000 free. Overall it was the role players who kept the Red and Cranberry clad "standing room only" spectators cheering, the teams chanting and the coaches pacing in the oppressive heat of Coppola. Each and every stroke brought hope and despair. The crowd roared with every 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place finish. Every point mattered. Everyone knew it.

Highlights: Freshman Addison Oswald (RU) breaking up Fox sweeps in the 1000 and 500 and leading off the 4X100 relay. Freshman Kate Conard (Marist) dramatic upset win in the 200 back. Sophomore Meredith Michl (Marist) taking second in 1 meter diving by less than 3 points. Senior Jenni Sullivan (RU) out touching Marist in the 100 Breast (0.1 sec) for third.

Much like their fans, I am sure both teams are exhausted, but they both know they have a lot of work to do if they expect to win in February.

Wish I could have been there.

MAAC Man

Next - the rest of the league.

[localsuperhero]

Great meet on girls side. A preview of what the girls meet at MAAC's should be like. But with the amount of depth Marist has doesn't show in this duel meet. I think it will and MAAC's and the girls will retake the crown.

Marist men duel meet team needs someone besides Kevin Shoemaker to swim well in season. The guys the lost to don't have a lot faster best times then them, they just don't swim well in season at all. Not to name names but Pat Shea, Josh Sklanka, Steve Miller, and even captain Steven Vendetta need to step it up or at least hit their taper this year.

[MAAC Man]

Meanwhile around the league:

Canisius - split.

The Golden Griffs from Canisius took on two Division III opponents last week. They drove down to Shippensburg Thursday morning only to lose to the Raiders 111-93 (as MAAC Man predicted). They then drove home to host Gannon on Saturday and posted a 137.5 to 88.5 victory. Both Pochatko (50 Free/100 back) and Moessinger (500/1000) continue to shine for the Griffs with double victories on Halloween.

Fairfield - Lost to Providence.

In a close SCM meet the Stags lost to Providence this weekend - Bimmler swam well but is still well behind the league leaders.

SPC - Good news and bad news. Good - the meet was in SCY! Bad news - hard to tell who swam. This was a comibination Dual/Tri/Quad meet! According to the link challenged Peacock website they only swam against a very weak VMI team, winning by a score of 53-47. Looks like VMI and the two other teams (NJIT and Manhattan) had their own little three way meet and left out the Peacocks - at their own pool. According to the site, Bilonic turned in a great 200 free (1:45) but did not swim the 100 Breast. Credit was given to freshman Tommy Tanyag with a time of 57.66 - doesn't sound right, but I will be watching Tommy.

Manhattan was at SPC, but didn't swim against SPC (must have been awkward). More good news for the MAAC, the Jaspers won their second dual meet since 1988 by defeating NJIT 57-34 (but lost to VMI 69-25 although VMI claims an 84-11 victory). Freshman Robert Varieur was part of three undisclosed wins for the Jaspers.

As expected, the Greyhounds easily dispatched Georgetown, Lafayette and Seton Hall. Webster (SH) winning the 100 back was more than a match for Morris and Reeser won impressively in the sprints. Chenet was victorious in both Breaststroke events while Torres continued to show his dominance in the fly. Good news, as if the dogs needed any, was the emergence of freshmen Jeff Rowe who added depth in the 50 Free - breaking 22 seconds in his first SCY race of the year.

Top performances:

Freestyle:
50 Reeser (LUM) 21.57, Player (RU) 21.76, J. Rowe (LUM) 21.83
100 Reeser 47.70, Mc Quaid (LUM) 48.18, Player 48.20
200 Molloy (RU) 1:45.56, Bilonic 1:45.93, Oster (LUM) 1:46.17
500 Morris (LUM) 4:37.53 ,Molloy 4:46.66
1000 Molloy 9:55.42, Arciszewski (RU) 9:59.20

Fly
100 Torres (LUM) 50.64
200 Shoemaker (Marist) 1:56.93, T. Rowe (LUM) 1:56.98

Back
100 Funk (RU) 52.56, Morris 52.67, McQuaid 52.76
200 Funk 1:55.25, Mukri (LUM) 1:58.87

Breast
100 Tanyag (SPC) 57.66, Chenet (LUM) 58.19 Fralinger (LUM) 59.33
200 Chenet 2:10.41, Hensen (RU) 2:14.65

IM
200 Funk 1:55.93 (exhibition)

Weekly Awards:

MAAC Man's "Swimmer of the Week:" Brian Molloy - Rider. He won the first two individual events of the meet (1000/200) against the Foxes on his way to three wins.

"Freshman of the Week:" Jeff Rowe - LUM. First freshmen and only the fourth swimmer to break 22.00 in the 50 Free plus he went under a minute in the 100 Breast.

Helmet Stickers: Shoemaker, Varieur, Bilonic/Tanyag, Funk, Hensen, Bimmler, Player, Reeser, Arciszewski, Chenet, McQuaid, Torres, Mukri and Tim Rowe.

Special Helmet Sticker: Manhattan Men's 200 Free Relay - new school record (1:34.78).

MAAC Nugget:

Is the glass half broken . . ?

Rider's football team hasn't competed in nearly 60 years - so they proclaim "Undefeated Since 1951." Manhattan, after beating Lehman last week, proclaimed "First Victory Since 1988" - which was the year the Jaspers dropped Men's swimming. C'mon guys - a little more positive spin couldn't hurt.

MAAC Man

Iona and previews tomorrow.

[localsuperhero]

Iona's women looked great. Theresa Harvey and company look to be major threats to steal points from the big three.

Canisius men looked great this weekend with their win over Gannon. They seem to have at the very least a solid swimmer in every event. Their 400 free relay went 10 seconds faster than all of in season last year going 3:16.15. Two guys went 5:03 in the 500 and Steve Pochatko went 54.43 hundred back. 55.59 hundred fly from Kevin Ernst. Two swimmers at 2:07 200 IM, a 1:49 200 free, and a 22.1 fifty. I think its time for Canisius to duel Marist.

Aside from Ozzy Torres and Colin Chenet I was unimpressed with Loyola. Maybe the flu? That plus some off events swam made it a pretty boring meet.

[MAAC Man]

Preview:

Loyola vs Johns Hopkins and VMI - Johns Hopkins will be lucky to take a second place or two and VMI is way out of its league. The "Thomas Murphy" will be two days of agony for the Keydets.

Marist vs Fairfield. This should be a confidence builder for the Foxes after last week. I don't really share Locosuperhero's enthusiasm for the Griffs but I think the Stags will be competitive. In the end, however, they will be no match for these league rivals. The only really interesting match up is probably going to be Marist's Keith Miller vs Fairfield's Paul Bimmler in the 50/100 free sprints. Another to watch - any medley really.

SPC vs Manhattan - the Jaspers can run but they cannot hide. After the last minute reshuffling last week the Mighty Peacocks won't let their prey escape this time around.

The Gael's took a beating at Seton Hall (139-81) and it really wasn't that close - after losses to Rider and Loyola the Pirates were ready for a win. Iona Freshman Zachary Benoit was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise dismal meet swimming 5:03 in the 500 Free and 10:19 in the 1000. With the water polo players still out the Gaels will take a week off and not return to competition until next week - when they won't really need them.

Niagara faces (gulp!) Duquesne. Someone forgot to tell the Purple Eagles that Duquesne has a really good team and Fredonia was not a good choice to get ready for them. The Eagles will be lucky to pick up a third place - except maybe a relay. Totally outmatched - the birds will have nightmares about the Duke's top swimmer Edward LeBlanc - he will ruffle their feathers. Taking a page from Fairfield's playbook, they will try and make it all better the next day. Gannon will look mighty good to the birds of prey 24 hours later. They should win one and lose one, but it will be ugly.

Rider vs Lehigh. Mirror image. The Broncs face an undefeated Mountain Hawk team that has almost exactly the same strengths as the Broncs. This will be more like "Clone Wars" with great match ups in nearly every event. The Hawks will have a slight advantage in the 100 and 200 Breaststrokes while the Broncs appear to be a little better in the sprints, but other than these events it is hard to pick a favorite. This is a much improved Lehigh team.

MAAC Man

[Chest Rockwell]

Maybe the flu? That plus some off events swam made it a pretty boring meet.

yes, the flu.

[localsuperhero]

Loyola has the oddest schedule out of any major mid-major school. They swim Navy, George Mason, Seton Hall, and then John Hopkins and VMI? Why not swim more CAA schools? Why not swim ODU, William and Mary, maybe even Maryland or at least UMBC.

[MAAC Man]

I think their schedule is all about baby steps. The Dogs are really not used the attention they are getting and don't realize how fast they are pulling away from their traditional opponents and the rest of the conference. Ties with NBAC and names like Hoff, Morris and even Phelps have raised their profile.

Add to this - it's a pretty good school, nice facility, they are not afraid to spend a little money and the resulting success is not surprising (but they can't buy a diver?).

FYI - they just upgraded their schedule. VMI is no longer listed to compete this weekend. At least somebody is listening to me.

MAAC Man