Olympic competition sinking swimming squads

By Kristie Kahl

Sometimes when a team struggles, it’s because the team is lacking. Other times, it’s because of the opponents.

In the case of the men’s and women’s swimming squads, it’s probably the latter.

Stiff competition – particularly against Olympic-bound athletes – has placed both seasons on shaky ground. The men’s team is currently winless (0-6) and finished last (out of five teams) at the Bucknell Invitational; the women’s team has fared only slightly better, with a 1-5 mark and a third place finish at the same invitational.

“We had a rough first semester, with lots of injuries and other problems,” said senior Andy French, who won the 500-meter free (4:48.47) on Nov. 11 against Lehigh and Penn. “I think our second semester record will more accurately show how competitive our team is and we will be ready to compete for the title at both the MAAC and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championships.”

At the Bucknell Invitational on Nov. 18-19, the teams won a combined 12 individual titles and two relay championships. Senior Lauren Urbanski won the 100-meter butterfly stroke (57.42) and broke a Rider record for the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:04.31.

Sophomore Amanda Burke won the three-meter dive (237.15) and sophomore Priscilla Modrov won the 400-meter IM (4:31.19) and placed second in the 100 butterfly. Overall, the women’s team moved up from fourth place on day one to third on day two.

The men took home fifth place on both days in spite of the fact that they took home five first-place finishes.
“It was difficult to compete with these other teams with having such a small amount of competitors, but everyone dove and swam their best,” said junior diver Dylan Korn, who won the one-meter dive (272.85). “A lot of best times and scores were made, records were broken, and some people even qualified for bigger meets.”

One week later, the Broncs faced Olympic competition at the U.S. Open Swimming Championships at Purdue University. On day one, the men’s 200-meter freestyle relay of French, senior Brandon Modrov, junior Peter Starr and freshman Scott Player finished 26th in the preliminaries with a time of 8:26.14.

On day two, Urbanski, Priscilla Modrov, senior Courtney Clark and freshman Kellyanne Tomasula placed 28th with a time of 4:36.11, finishing ahead of both UConn and Florida Atlantic. Throughout the third day, Tomasulla finished 56th in the 100-meter backstroke and 93rd in the 100 butterfly.

“It was amazing to be a part of such a great relay that was lucky enough to qualify for the U.S. Open,” said Clark. “I was extremely excited to represent Rider at a highly competitive world class meet.”

The women’s relay team brought home a Rider long course record in the women’s 400-meter free relay, placing 29th with a time of 4:07.74. Priscilla Modrov led the relay, coming in with a 100-meter free time of 1:00.03. In an individual event, Urbanski placed 66th, with a time of 2:25.16, in the 200 butterfly.

The divers, meanwhile, were competing at the Galbraith Diving Invitational at Rutgers University. Korn moved from seventh place to fifth out of 32 competitors in the one-meter dive. He also moved from eighth place to seventh place in the finals for the three-meter dive.

“This meet was definitely the biggest meet of the year so far,” said Korn. “This meet gave us a very good idea about what the competition was going to be like for the Zone Diving qualifier that will take place at Rutgers in the spring.”

In the three-meter dive, Shannen Kahler placed 36th with Liz Muller following at 37th. Both teams look to improve in January at the MAAC Championships and at the ECAC Swim/Dive Championships.