NEW ROCHELLE, NY - After nearly a month of rigorous training and strong competition, the Iona College swimming and diving team picked up a sweep of MAAC rival Fairfield Saturday at the Hynes Athletics Center.
The Iona men cruised to a 174-118 victory as the Iona women took a 158-135 win on what was affectionately called, “Connor Reid Day”. Reid, one of Iona's co-captains was recognized as the squad's lone graduating senior.
“Connor has been there every day for four years, leading practices, cheers and swimming every freestyle and backstroke race there is. He is a great leader in the water, deck, bus and locker room,” commented head coach Nick Cavataro.
The recent Iona schedule saw the team fall to Big East power Seton Hall; Atlantic 10 and cross town rival Fordham; Colonial League Delaware and this past Saturday to University Athletic Association leader, New York University.
“Those meets were a challenge, but we never stopped battling and sharpening the line-up and preparing for the Championship part of the season, now less than two weeks away,” continued Cavataro.
The day did not start well for the Gaels as the Stags' strong diving contingent rolled up big points in the first four events. With freshman Iona standout Charles Blaschinski on the side lines with a back injury, the Stags' Daniel Pires, Evan Barr and Will Sullivan gave the Connecticut team a 35-0 lead.
The Fairfield women, with Ashlee Steinberger taking both the one and three-meter springboard events, held off Brittney Liddy, who took fourth on both boards and Alicia Raffle, who was fifth on one-meter feel behind 32-5 in points.
The women rebounded in the opening 200-Medely relay with Leigh Musselman, Kathryn Nevin, Maria Lopez and Elizabeth Kaczmarek winning with a near season best of 1:53.66. Laura Mongillo, Alexa Caravella, Alexandra DiBiase and Melissa Dorsch were third at 1:58.25.
The Iona men answered back with an enormous 1-2 effort in the 200-Medley Relay with Keegan Boisson-Yates, Christopher Vadala, Liam Oberlander and Zack Holbrook going 1:39.15 and the quartet of Dave Ciavarelli, Sam Braziel, Collin Purrman and Tommy Keefe less than .4 behind.
“Those three relays were huge for us”, commented assistant coach Anthony Bruno. “We knew if we were to get back in the meet it had to start with the relays and build from there.”
Fairfield's Meredith Laberge (10:51.71) held off Iona's closing Kaitlyn Mahon (10:55.91) and Mary Ellen Mangione (11:05.54) in the 1000-yard freestyle. The men's 1000-yard race saw Purrman and Scott Martin take first and second respectively at 10:03.51 and 10:07.39.
The 200-freestyle saw the Iona team continues to apply pressure to the Stags as Kaczmarek and Natalie Bowman posted a one-two finish at 1:58.44 and 1:59.16, respectively. The men's side saw Christian Foti (1:46.27) and Matthew Rothman (1:49.58) take the top two spots.
The 100-backstroke saw Musselman win at 1:02.14 as Boisson-Yates and Ciavarelli went 54.59 and 54.94, respectively for the top two spots.
Action in the 100-breaststroke had Mangione (1:10.48) win with Vadala (1:01.77) and Braziel (1:02.32) taking the one-two spots.
The 200-butterfly saw DiBiase win at 2:15.89 with Dylan Mechanic and Daniel McGovern placing second and third behind the Stags' Connor Daly.
The 50-freestyle had Melissa Dorsch taking the top spot for the Gaels at 25.68 with Keefe winning on the men's side for the first time this season at 22.34 with Rothman and Holbrook deadlocked at 22.40 for second.
The 100-freestyle saw a pair of first and second place races for both the Iona women and men. Kaczmarek (54.74) won her second race of the day with Natalie Bowman second (55.13). Zack Holbrook (48.77) and Rothman (49.44) took the same spots in the men's race.
Musselman won the 200-back at 2:13.31 for her second win of the day, with Mongillo second .3 behind. Boisson-Yates, Ciavarelli and Jay Lessard finished in the top three spots in the men's race at 1:58.64, 2:05.45 and 2:06.16 respectively.
Mangione (2:30.29), Vadala (2:12.83) and Braziel duplicated their 100-breast placings in the 200-breast.
The Stags' Laberge won her second race in the 500-free at 5:17.83, ahead of Iona's Kaitlin Mahon. The men's races saw Foti, Purrman and Martin take the top three spots at 4:49.83, 4:50.47 and 4:57.78, respectively.
Iona continued the pressure, grabbing the top three spots in the women's 100-butterfly with Lopez (1:01.78), DiBase (1:02.55) and a season best for Alexa Caravella (1:05.55). The Iona men could not catch the Stags' Connor Daly in the 100-Fly (53.16), but did take second, third and fourth with Mechanic, Oberlander and Boisson-Yates.
The meet's final events saw Kaczmarek win her third race, taking the 200-IM at 2:12.58. The Stags' Daly also claimed his third win, at 1:57.95 in the IM ahead of Purrman, Braziel and Veals for the Gaels.
The final 200-Free Relay saw Dorsch, Bowman, Mangione and Nevin combine for an easy win at 1:41.92, as the Men's quartet of Rothman, Holbrook, Kyle Desrosiers and Keefe posted a 1:28.98 clocking.
“There were a lot of positive sign out of this meet for us,” noted Cavataro, “however, it is imperative we stay focused on the MAAC Championships less than two weeks away.”
