SAN JUAN, PR - Competing for the first time outside the continental United States, the Iona College men's and women's swimming and diving team participated in a five team Invitational Meet at Sacred Heart College in downtown San Juan, Puerto Rico.
MAAC Rival Loyola University, Rowan College (NJ), Wheaton College (MA) and WPI joined Iona in a 20 event meet in the 10-lane, 50-Meter pool under the lights.
"The team performed very well after several days of hard training," commented coach Nick Cavataro. "The trip's primary purpose is intense mid-season training; but this meet - with about 250 men and women student-athletes all gathered for the same purpose, really had a lot of spirit and some great races."
On the women's side, the 200-Medley quartet of Maria Skeivys, Jamie Manser, Sophia Hyokyvaara and Theresa Harvey just missed a win behind Loyola, with a time of 2:11.41. The men's verison saw a second place finish as well as Mark Wallace, Chris Yacobacci, Tyler Elfert and Justin Grigull posted a 1:54.34 clocking.
The 200-Free saw Brigitte Doughty win her heat at 2:20.90 with senior captain Christine Larkin fourth at 2:30.50. The 100-Backstroke saw both Brittany Freeman and Kelsie Johnson take third in the heats with respective times of 1:19.02 and 1:20.39. The men's side saw Zach Benoit take third in his heat at 2:11.52 and Justin Grigull taking second at 2;14.07 in his race.
An unusual feature of the meet was 150-meter, 3 person stroke relays. The trio of Samantha Cody, Sophia Hyokyvaara and Kara Nowakowski was second at 1:35.47. The men's Fly relay saw Jay Wegimont, Nick Kotonias and Elfert take second as well at 1:28.30.
The 100-Breast saw Sarah Walker take second at 1:24.30, with Jamie Manser third at 1:25.51. Matthew Stelnicki had the night's fastest time, clocking in at 1:10.97 and in the next race Patrick Garvey won with a time of 1:17.16.
The 150-Back relay had Skeivys, Johnson and Freeman take third at 1:46.67. The men's Back relay was also third as Ralph Porrazzo, Nick Kotonias and Vincent Carbone clocked in at 1:36.86.
Mackenzie Mone was second in her heat of the 100-Free at 1:03.24, with Theresa Harvey touching the wall at 1:06.68 easily winning her heat. On the men's side, Joseph De Leone had the night's fastest 100-free, winning with a time of 57.10, with Chris Yacobacci third at 1:00.88.
The 150-Breaststroke Relays were dominated by the Iona women and men as the women's trio of Walker, Manser and Zuzanna Michalak won easily at 1:57.29 and in the next race the men's trio of Matthew Stelnicki, Chris Giovine and Kristian Bocage also won at 1:40.98.
The 100-Butterfly saw Samantha Cody post a time of 1:11.32, which was second in her heat with Brigitte Doughty winning her race at 1:12.39. Michael Wu and Trevor Creighton each were second in their heats with espective times of 1:08.91 and 1:06.85.
The lady Gaels 200-Free relay closed out the night with a second palce effort as Kerri-Anne Dodenhoff, Caitlin McGregor, Victoria Ponzo and Christine Williams touched at 2:04.31. The men's quartet of Graham Weir, Cody Siemeck, Michael Wu and Lee Stiles was also second with a time of 1:49.37.
"I was very pleased with our group effiorts, enthusiasm and results. The meet ended late and the final team scores were not available as all the data had to be entered into the pool side computer; but, to see our relays perform well and see heat wins out of DeLeone, Doughty, Freeman, Garvey and Stelnicki was very encouraging," commented Cavataro.
The team's training session continues through Friday.
