Seniors lead SU men's swim team in record setting CAC championship performance
ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. – The Salisbury University men's swimming program turned in its best performance ever at the 2007 Capital Athletic Conference championships this past weekend at St. Mary's (Md.) College. The Sea Gulls finished in third place with 402 points, the highest SU has ever placed, and broke seven school records in the process.

Salisbury's women's team finished in fifth place with 266.50 points which was 32.5 behind fourth place Catholic University of America. The University of Mary Washington swept the men's and women's championships for the fifth consecutive year in a row.

Seniors Mike Fowler and Cole Mangum both set or were part of four school records apiece. SU also saw four men's relay teams set school records during the three-day championships.

"Mike and Cole were great in leading the team and making sure what the team needed to do [during the weekend]," said SU coach Jill Stephenson. "This is the best men's team we have ever had here at Salisbury."

Mangum broke the 50 freestyle school record, twice, on the first day of competition on Friday, February 9. The old mark was 22:15 seconds and the Silver Spring, Md. native, finished with 22 seconds flat during the finals where he placed third. Mangum was also part of the record setting 200 freestyle relay team, which finished second to York (Pa.) College. The team of Mangum, Mike Fowler, Ross Spangler and Brad Buckley clocked a second place time of 1:28.23.

The SU men broke three records on Saturday as the 200 medley relay team got things going with a third place finish. The team of Mangum, Buckley, Mike Ferrari and Jaime Overholt broke the old record (1:49.67) by eight seconds when they touched the wall at 1:41.39. Overholt, a sophomore, was also part of the 800 free relay team that broke another school record by 10 seconds (7:20.30). Junior Chris McGaunn, Mike Fowler and Spangler joined Overholt on the fifth-place team.

In the 200 freestyle, three different Sea Gulls broke the school record four different times. The old mark of 1:49.14, set last year by Spangler, was first broken by Overholt (1:49.01). Spangler then regained his record with a time of 1:48.94 but was edged out by Mike Fowler (1:48.33) during the final race. Finally, Overholt regained the record during the 800 free relay where he beat Fowler’s time by a tenth of a second, 1:48.32.

"It was unbelievable that the 200 freestyle record got broken four different times on Saturday," said Stephenson.

Freshmen Mike Ferrari and Maureen Gillespie both took home third place finishes in the 200 breaststroke on Sunday. The SU men's and women's team saw everybody but one women's swimmer turn in their best times of the season.

"Our freshmen on the women's team really stepped it up for us," said Stephenson, who also noted that the women's relay teams also performed well.

Salisbury's speed demons took over in the 100 yard freestyle where the Sea Gulls had four swimmers in the top nine spots and broke a school record in the process. Mike Fowler, a native of Ocean Pines, Md., took home the record with his fourth place performance (48.93 seconds). Mangum finished fifth followed by Buckley in eighth and Spangler in ninth.

The last event of the weekend was the 400 free relay. The SU team of Mangum, Spangler, Buckley and Mike Fowler finished in third place with a school record time of 3:15.99.

"The challenges of the season go away after a meet like this," said Stephenson.

Notes: The CAC swimming championships will return to St. Mary's (Md.) College next year . . . The All-CAC swimming teams will be announced later this week . . . The CAC Men's Athlete of the Year is UMW's Dale Parker, CAC Men's Rookie of the Year is Rian Foust of Catholic and the CAC Men's Coach of the Year is Gina McHenry of York (Pa.) . . . The CAC Women's Athlete of the Year is Brie McDowell of St. Mary's (Md.), the CAC Women's Rookie of the Year is UMW's Laura Graesser and the CAC Women's Coach of the Year is Matt Kinney of UMW.

2007 CAC Championships results
Results: Day 1 - Friday  |  Day 2 - Saturday  |  Day 3 - Sunday  |  Final Team Standings