Swimming and Diving Hosts Colgate In First Meet of Season
10/11/2006 12:05:34 PM | Swimming / Diving
The Syracuse men's and women's swimming and diving teams will open the 2006-07 season against in-state rival Colgate on Friday. The meet will take place at the Webster Pool in Archbold Gymnasium with the diving portion set to begin at 2 p.m. and the swimming events at 4:30 p.m. The Syracuse men's team is 34-29 against the Raiders all-time and the women are 11-2. Last season, the men claimed a 148-88 victory, while the women came just short, losing 121.5-120.5.
Both the Syracuse men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams return a solid group of athletes, many of whom performed well at the BIG EAST Championship last season.
"My ultimate goal is to represent the university at the NCAA Championship," Orange head coach Lou Walker said. I think that is attainable. Along the way, we need to do better in the conference meets in terms of team placing. We’ve been a pretty good invitational team and we’ve got to continue to do that."
The men’s team will benefit from the return of graduate student Luk Boral, who has competed at the NCAA Championship in each of the past the three seasons. He will be joined by six men with BIG EAST Championship experience and several newcomers who have performed on the highest levels of international competition. The women also have a number of competitors back from last year who will provide depth and experience.
THE MEN
Along the way, Boral also turned in another succesfful showing at the conference meet. He placed second in the 200 breaststroke and helped the 800 free relay team to a second-place
finish. His experience and performance at the highest level of collegiate competition makes him one of pillars for Walker on the men’s side.
The other senior on the roster that takes part in the swimming events is Wes Matson. Matson, a freestyle and butterfly specialist, was a part of the 800 free relay team, along with Boral, that earned all-conference honors by placing second at the 2006 BIG EAST Championship. He also raced in the 200 and 500 freestyle events. Matson turned in the top two times for an SU male swimmer in the 200 free last year. He posted a season-best time of 1:40.01 at the conference meet and a mark of 1:40.86 at the Nike Cup.
The Orange returns six sophomores who saw extensive action in their first seasons, led by Matt Brock, Matt Gerlach, and Peter Gollands. Brock competed in the 100 back, 200 free and was a member of the 200 free relay team at the conference meet.
As part of the 200 free relay, he helped the unit to a season-best time of 1:23.96 at the BIG EAST Championship. During the year, Brock also made a splash as a member of the 400 free relay that recorded a top time of 3:09.49 at West Virginia. On an individual level, he swam a personal-best time of :46.89 in the 100 free at the Nike Cup and a career-best mark in the 200 free (1:41.74) at the BIG EAST Championship. Gerlach, last season’s team Rookie of the Year, is SU’s top returning distance performer. He competed in the 500 and 1,650 free and the 400 IM at the BIG EAST Championship. He swam SU’s two bests times in the 1,650 freestyle, including a season and personal best (15:57.31) at the confernence meet. Gollands also saw extensive action in the BIG EAST Championship last season, competing in the 100 fly, 200 IM, and as a part of the 200 free and 400 medley relay teams. In the 100 fly, he turned in his best time of the year at the conference championship (:51.16) and helped both relay teams achieve season bests.
The men’s team will be bolstered by a group of newcomers that includes Arda Isiksalan, a native of Turkey, who was a national champion in the backstroke, and Boldizsar Kiss. Kiss represented his native country of Hungary in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece and was a member 2006 Hungarian National Team that competed in the European Championship. At the European Championship, he guided the 800 free relay team to an eighth-place showing in the final.
THE WOMEN
On the women’s side, the Orange placed ninth in the BIG EAST last season and Walker feels the team will be strong in the breaststroke and backstroke. The Orange has a trio of seniors in Randi Beaulieu, Petra Zavadilova, and Anette Hoye, who have conference championship experience. Beaulieu turned in a strong performance at the meet last season, competing in five events. For the season, she was part of four first-place finishes, including wins in the 100 back (vs. Villanvoa) and the 200 back (Army Invitational). Zavadilova competed in thee relays for the Orange at the conference meet as well as the 50 free and 100 fly. Zavadilova won gold medals in the 100 fly at the Army Invitational and versus Connecticut. Hoye competed in the 100 breast at the BIG EAST Championship and placed 12th.
The Orange also has three sophomores back for the their second seasons after successful rookie campaings. Sarah Manning, the 2005-06 team Rookie of the Year, swam in the 200 and 800 free relays, the 100 back and the 100 fly. Manning helped the 800 free relay to the final at the league meet and guided the 200 free relay to a time of 1:35.98, narrowly missing the school record. Catrina Roth swam in the 100 and 200 back, the 100 fly, and two relays as well, and turned in SU’s best marks of the season in both the 100 (at the Nike Cup and 200 (BIG EAST Championship) backstrokes. Danielle Stein competed in the 200 IM and 100 breast, placing 11th in the 100 breast at the conference meet. Stein also swam a personal-best time of 2:21.75 in the 200 breast at the competition.
The women’s team welcomes five freshman to the club this year, including Carolyn Delkus, who walker expects will give an immediate lift to the Orange in the freestyle competitions.
THE DIVERS
On the women’s side, junior Tory McKenna returns to anchor the Orange after performing well at the BIG EAST Championship for the second consecutive season. McKenna placed sixth on the three-meter springboard at the league meet. She also won the one-meter competitions against West Virginia, Connecticut and Seton Hall in 2005-06.
The women will benefit from the addition of graduate student Alida DiPlacido, who was a three-time All-American at Texas A&M and was selected as the 2004 Big 12 Diver of the year. DiPlacidoe is finishing out her eligibility with the Orange while pursuing her master’s degree in advertising from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
"Tory did a good job for us last year," Walker said. "Between the two of them, we should have the best pair in the BIG EAST I would think." Along with DiPlacido, freshman Kirsten Thomas will join SU as a diver this year.The men return senior Jeremy Thornton and junior Patrick White, both of whom competed in the BIG EAST Championship last year. White won both the one- and three-meter boards against Vilanova and West Virginia. He also posted an SU season-best point total of 273.67 versus Connecticut. Thornton competed on the one-meter board at the conference championship, and posted an SU season best 300.38 in the three-meter competition against Connecticut.
THE SCHEDULE
This year’s schedule is slightly different from years past in that the Orange will compete in more invitationals. Along with returning to the Nike Cup at the University of North Carolina for the 12 straight year, the Orange will take part in the Nutmeg Invitational at Yale, the Red Fox Invitational at Marist and the Puerto Rico Invitational. The dual schedule consists of meets at Pittsburgh, Boston University and Villanova. SU will also host a pair of dual meets in 2006-07, including its season debut showing against Colgate on Oct. 13. The BIG EAST Championship will take place in February at the Nassau County Aquatics Center in Uniondale, New York.
"Our ultimate goal is championships, which are multi-day events," Walker said. "We are no longer breaking the season into two; working to reach qualifying times at the Nike Cup and then rebuilding to have another strong performance at the BIG EAST Championship. This year, we are going to work right up to and through the Nike Cup."
