Season Preview: Sea Gulls ready to make a splash in 2007-08
SALISBURY, Md. – The Salisbury University swimming program is set to embark on the 2007-08 season with the goal of becoming Capital Athletic Conference champions.

Last season, the men's team had a record breaking season as they finished in third place at the conference championships, the highest the Sea Gulls have ever placed. In the midst of the record finish the Gulls also set seven school records and saw their 200 freestyle relay team earn a spot on the All-CAC team.

"We are very exited about the level of new talent we have to go with our returners," said SU coach Jill Stephenson about the 2007-08 men's team. "We should do well and be strong enough to compete for the CAC title."

The women's team will look to follow the rise of the men's team within the CAC. Last season, the SU women's team finished fifth at the CAC championships. Both Sea Gull teams finished last season with identical 5-6 records and 4-4 marks in the CAC. The men won three of their final four 2006-07 regular-season meets while the women won three of their final five.

Men's Team
On the men's side the Gulls welcome four seniors back to the pool. Fifth-year senior Cole Mangum and senior Ross Spangler will be the teams' freestyle sprint specialists. Magnum is poised to break his own school record in the 50 yard free (22 seconds) that he set last season. Senior Christopher McGaunn will be relied on in the individual medley (IM), freestyle and butterfly events while fellow senior Matt Anderson (backstroke/freestyle) will be the team's main force in the backstroke.

"All of those guys [seniors] are major contributors to the team with their performances in individual events and on relay teams as well," said Stephenson.

Junior Benjamin S. Overholt will also play a big role in the success of the men’s team as he will primarily swim the mid-distance freestyle and butterfly events. Overholt is the only other current men’s swimmer to hold an individual school record. He holds the 200 yard free (48.93) record, which he set last season.

The All-CAC 200 freestyle relay team returns three of the four members from last season where they finished in second place at the 2006-07 CAC championships with a school record time of 1:28.23. The three members back are Mangum, Spangler and junior Brad Buckley (free/breaststroke). The other member of that team was Mike Fowler, who was a senior last season.

Last season, the men's relay teams set new school records in four of the five relay events.

"One of our goals this year is to break that last record up there in the 400 medley relay set back in 2002," said Stephenson.

Other key returners for SU are juniors Ian Branigan (free/fly) and Ryan Forbes (free/back), sophomores Mike Ferrari (breast/free), Sean Snee (free) and Carl Stockman (free).

To help SU with its goal of doing well in the CAC and the rest of its schedule Coach Stephenson brought in a freshman class that is ready to make an impact.  Tim Metcalf, Michael Radloff, Drew Robichaud, Kyle Miller and John Lorman all have a ton of potential and will gain immediate experience in the pool for SU. Radloff has traveled the most distance within the United States to be a Sea Gull as the freshman hails from Wisconsin. Freshman women’s swimmer Ali Horkey has traveled the furthest distance as she is from Berlin, Germany.

"We will have some tough personnel decisions due to our versatility and have a lot of options to try," said Stephenson. "We are really deep and should have no drop off in talent."

Women's Team
This year's women's team is still relatively young but gained a lot of valuable experience last season. The Sea Gulls will look for leadership and guidance from their two seniors Erin Smith and Caitlin McGing. Smith will participle in backstroke, freestyle and butterfly for her individual events. McGing will concentrate on the freestyle and backstroke for the Gulls.

"We replaced what we lost and should do a lot better than last season," said Stephenson.

With the extreme depth and an abundance of young swimmers juniors Laura Kordzikowski (free) and Raienne South (free/fly) will be expected to step up and rack up points for the Sea Gulls. Sophomores Maureen Gillespie (free/breast) and Lindsay Southworth (back/IM) have gained a year of experience and look to build off of solid freshmen seasons.

The women's relay teams will have a good mix of freshmen and upperclassmen on them to take aim at the school records that were posted seven years ago.

"We are more versatile than last year but may struggle with swimmers having to do their individual events right before and right after the relay events," said Stephenson.

Other key returners for SU are juniors Amber Luedtke (free/IM) and Allie Ziegler (free), Christi Mann (breast), sophomores Lauren Buda (IM/back), Laura Dignan (fly/IM), Sarah Duffy (free), Angie Hammond (fly/free) and Jessica Krauss (breast).

Freshmen Becky Akers (free/breaststroke) and local product Katy Turner (IM/fly) should have an immediate impact for the Gulls. Akers is expected to replace Laura Allen, who graduated last season, in the breaststroke.

Schedule
Salisbury will have three home meets this season beginning with a conference match against Marymount (Va.) University on Nov. 10 followed by back-to-back meets in early January as the Gulls host CAC newcomer Hood College (Jan. 5) and Frostburg State (Jan. 12).

"It worked out that we only have three home meets this season and two of them are during winter break. We need to stay focus and swim our best, especially at home," said Stephenson.

SU kicks the season off on Oct. 27 when the Sea Gulls travel to Washington, D.C., for a dual meet against two CAC opponents in Gallaudet University and University of Mary Washington. Salisbury will swim in 10 different meets this season. Three tough non-conference matches on the road this season are against Rowan University, Washington (Md.) College and Catholic University of America.

Summary
Salisbury welcomes back one of its own as former student-athlete Ryan Kooy is a new assistant coach for Coach Stephenson this season. Stephenson and Kooy have worked hard over the past month to get the Gulls ready for the 2007-08 season.

"We have a great group of people who work hard and are motivated which will pay off throughout the season," said Kooy.

The maroon and gold will look to improve on their records from last season and be the first touch the wall in many events as they set out to capture their goals of two CAC championships.

"We are really excited. The team has been fantastic thus far," said Stephenson. "They have a great attitude and a good work ethic and I can’t wait to see what they can do."