February 21, 2005

Sea Gulls Set Five School Records at CAC Swimming Championships

Fredericksburg, Va - The Salisbury University men’s and women’s swim teams capped their 2005 seasons with five school records at the three-day Capital Athletic Conference Championship Meet.  The Sea Gull men finished fifth among eight teams in the championship, while the women were sixth among eight.   Final Team Scores

“We thought we might score a little higher,” said Head Coach Jill Stephenson. “But a lot of our swimmers posted their best times of the year, so we’re pleased with those performances.”

Senior Ryan Kooy led the assault by contributing on three of the four men’s records. Kooy established a new individual mark in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:17.27. He finished fifth in the event and also added a seventh place finish in the 100-breaststroke (1:03.84).

Kooy also contributed on two new relay records. He was joined by senior Adam Podolak, junior Gary Stewart and freshman Ross Spangler on the 200-medley relay team which posted a time of 1:41.67 and finished fifth. Kooy, Spangler, sophomore Gerald Mazzetta, and sophomore Ralph Parker also set a new record in the 200-freestyle relay with a time of 1:30.71. The Gulls placed fourth in the event.

Spangler added an individual school record in the 100-free, recording a time of 49.86 seconds while finishing ninth overall. He also added an eighth place finish in the 200-free with a non-record time of 1:51.07. Freshman Chris McGaunn scored in three events for the Gulls, placing eighth in the 400-IM (4:35.99), 10th in the 200-butterfly (2:11.24) and 12th in the 100-butterfly (58.55 secs).

“Our men’s team freshmen really pulled through in a big way,” said Stephenson. “They contributed a lot of points. In general, we got some real good contributions from a lot of our younger swimmers.”

Sophomore Laura Allen, who set two new school records at last year’s championship meet added another this year. Allen broke her own SU mark in the 400-IM with a time of 4:54.89. She finished sixth overall. Allen also scored big points for the Gulls while registering Salisbury’s highest individual finishes with a third place in the 200-breaststroke and a fourth place showing in the 100-breaststroke.

Other Sea Gull women’s highlights during the championship included: an eighth place showing for senior Rachel Lazarick in the 1650-free (19:25.06); an eighth place finish by senior Ashley Letterman in the 100-backstroke (1:06.12); and a ninth place finish by junior Stephanie Failor in the 100-breaststroke (1:13.64).

“Laura had a fantastic swim in the individual medley,” said Stephenson. “Overall it was a pretty emotional weekend because we had nine seniors swimming in the final collegiate meets. We’ll have a tough group to replace next year because they were also great team leaders.”

Complete team and individual scoring for the championship can be accessed online at http://athletics.umw.edu.