Salisbury swimming hopes to continue ascent within the CAC
SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury University men's and women's swimming teams enter the 2006-07 season with a primary goal of improving on their fourth and fifth place showings in last year's Capital Athletic Conference championships.

The Sea Gulls have been training hard all year long for this season in hopes of passing some of their CAC rivals behind the dominant front-runner, University of Mary Washington.

"There is a real positive feeling. We have been working very hard in practice," said Salisbury coach Jill Stephenson.

Salisbury has several key veterans back and judging by the first few meets, thus far, many lifetime marks have already been broken.

"We have versatility and depth on the women’s side, and on the men’s side we have 15 guys that can really swim," said Stephenson.

The three seniors on the women's team are Laura Allen, Malori Steinhauer and Hilary Yates. Allen specializes in the breaststroke but her individual medley (IM) and relay prowess make her an invaluable teammate. Yates' versatility is also extraordinary as she handles backstroke, butterfly and the 200 freestyle. Steinhauer is best in the 400 IM.

With the extreme depth available many swimmers have a chance to contribute. Kerry Anne Farrell, Laura Kordzikowski and Raienne South are all sophomores with outstanding potential. Freshmen Angie Hammond in the 100 fly and Sarah Duffy in distance events are some young swimmers to watch.

The men have a solid nucleus of great sprinters that may be relied upon to rack up points in individual and relay events. Junior Ross Spangler, senior Cole Mangum and sophomore Brad Buckley are sprint specialists. Some other major returners are Jamie Overholt in mid-distance, Chris McGaunn in the IMs and Mike Fowler handling some freestyle and butterfly races.

The freshmen and transfer swimmers could make a big impact as their times decrease. Freshman Carl Stockman swam his best 500 free by 30 seconds at the conclusion of training camp and fellow newcomer Mike Ferrari will add to an already potent sprinting arsenal. Senior transfer Steve Fowler, twin brother of Mike Fowler, adds depth in the breast and free.

"We have a great chance at breaking some school relay records, especially in the shorter distances," said Stephenson.

Swimming is as much a race against the clock as it is against other swimmers. Stephenson and her swimmers know that incremental improvements in lower times will have a big payoff throughout the season and at the CAC Championships in February.