College Swimming and Diving
Rider at ECACs
Bronc Men 3rd of 21 / Women 3rd of 24
Rider's Burke Diver of the Meet
Tomasula - Rider Record in the 200 Back
PITTSBURGH, Pa.--The Rider University men's and women's swimming and diving teams competed at the Eastern College Athletic Conference championships this weekend, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh and both teams placed third.
Senior diver Amanda Burke (Southampton, Pa./William Tennent), who won both the one-meter and three-meter boards on Friday and Saturday with pool record scores, was named diver of the meet for the third time in her career, having also earned the award in 2007 and 2008. Due to a schedule conflict, Burke did not compete at the 2009 ECACs.
"Amanda is an incredible diver," said diving coach Dennis Ceppa. "She is one of the top divers in our region. Breaking both the one and three-meter pool records at Pittsburgh goes to show what level Amanda is actually at. Earning diver of the meet was just icing on the cake."
Burke was also diver of the meet at the MAAC championships last weekend.
"Our team is trained to compete through the championship season and I am proud of their effort," said head coach Steve Fletcher. "There was a lot of fast swimming and improved performances from last week at MAACs."
For the Rider women, senior Kellyanne Tomasula (Sussex/Vernon Township) won the 200 back with a Rider record time of 1:59.60 with junior Brianna Burns (Chestnut Ridge, N.Y./Spring Valley) finishing third in the 100 free (51.95) and freshman Melissa Berkay (Jamul, Calif./Fusion Academy) placing third in the 200 fly (2:03.86).
"Kellyanne set the only team record on the women's side this season," Fletcher said. "To post a 200 back time under two minutes is a milestone and setting a Rider record is very impressive. With the development of the swimmers more and more these past nine seasons, it is getting harder to break team records so this is a tremendous accomplishment for her."
For the Rider men on Sunday, senior Paul Apostolakis (Brooklyn, N.Y./Fort Hamilton) placed second in the one-meter dive (298.60), freshman Brian Molloy (Toms River/Toms River HS East) was third in the 1650 free (15:59.51), freshman Julien Hensen (Delafield, Wis./Kettle Moraine) placed third in the 200 breast (2:05.19) and sophomore Brendan Cavallaro (Middleboro, Mass./Middleboro) was third in the one-meter dive (266.35).
"It was a complete team effort," Fletcher said. "We came into the meet very focused and maintained that focus all three days."
"Brendan is a very consistent diver," Ceppa said. "He is coming off shoulder surgery and has exceeded his doctor's expectation and mine as well due to the injury. I wasn't sure he would be able to qualify for zones and his mental makeup allowed him to push through and accomplish that goal."
Also for the women's team, freshman Addie Oswald (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley) placed sixth in the 200 back (2:03.63), freshman Kelly O'Connor (Beverly, Mass./Beverly) was seventh in the 200 back (2:04.65) and 12th in the 200 fly (2:06.32) and senior Lovette Leonhard (Piscataway) placed ninth in the 1650 free (17:54.65).
Also for the Bronc men, senior Brian Brady (Turnersville/Gloucester Catholic) placed fourth in the 100 free (46.50), freshman Johnny Funk (Las Vegas, Nev./Southeast Career & Tech. Acad.) was fifth in the 200 back (1:52.58), junior Arthur Arciszewski (Phillipsburg) placed sixth in the 1650 free (16:27.33), junior Tom Smallwood (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) was sixth in the one-meter dive (238.15) and junior Mike Tubb (Swedesboro/St. Augustine Prep.) placed eighth in the 200 breast (2:08.10).
Sophomore Len Paccione (Turnersville/Gloucester Catholic) was ninth in the 1650 free (16:29.90), senior Scott Player (Chino Hills, Calif./Ruben S. Ayala) placed 10th in the 100 free (46.40), freshman Jeremy Chaudet (Branchburg/Somerville) was 10th in the 200 breast (2:07.15), junior Ryan Nelthropp (Christiansted, V.I./St. Croix Country Day) placed 11th in the 200 fly (1:52.63) and junior C.J. Kohner (Bloomington, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy) was 11th in the 1650 free (16:44.16).
The women's 400 free relay of Oswald, Burns, junior Alicia Fimple (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby) and Tomasula placed third with a time of 3:29.55.
The men's 400 free relay of Player, Funk, Molloy and Brady was fourth with a time of 3:05.38.
Navy won the men's 21-team competition with Marist winning the 24-team women's competition.
The Bronc women placed runner-up at the 2009 ECACs with the Rider men finishing third. Both teams placed runner-up at the 2010 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships this past weekend in Baltimore.
"We look at MAACs and ECACs as two opportunities to compete in championship meets," said Fletcher. "With four seasons, that is really only eight opportunities to compete at that level and we prepare mentally and physically for the demands of the high level of competition. You want to do well at both and don't want a 50 percent effort by peaking too soon just at MAACs or ECACs. Both events are extremely important to the success of our program."
Burke, Apostolakis and Cavallaro compete at NCAA Zone 'A' Diving meet in Piscataway March 12-14.
"Paul has been helped because Brendan has been doing better," Ceppa said. "Having a teammate beat you in a diving event helps you become a better diver. No one likes to get beat so the competition really helps both divers. While both want to see the other one do well, both Paul and Brenden are always looking to see what they can do better in the next competition."
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