College Swimming and Diving
Women: Rider University 108, Lafayette College 106
Men: Rider University 58, Lafayette College 48

LAWRENCEVILLE--First came the snow, then the sleet and because of all that, tonight came the swim (and the seniors) as the Rider University men's and women's swimming and diving teams finally competed against Lafayette after a 24 hour postponement on senior night at Coppola Pool.

"It always amazes me the development of a class from freshmen to seniors," said head coach Steve Fletcher.  "Every coach experiences it and it is not unique to swimming and diving but a group that makes it through four years is pretty special and this class is no exception."

For the Rider men against Lafayette, senior Arthur Arciszewski (Phillipsburg) won the 1000 free (10:03.07), freshman Sean Newhouse won the 200 free (1:46.36), sophomore Julien Hensen (Delafield, Wis./Kettle Moraine) won the 50 free (22.51) and sophomore Johnny Funk (Las Vegas, Nev./Southeast Career & Tech. Academy) won the 200 IM (1:56.71).

For the Bronc women against the Leopards, freshman Melanie Leonhard (Piscataway) won the 500 free (5:13.96) and 1000 free (10:29.53), senior Brianna Burns (Chestnut Ridge, N.Y./Spring Valley) won the 100 free (52.65) and 200 free (1:54.71), sophomore Kelly O'Connor (Beverly, Mass./Beverly) won the 400 IM (4:38.08) and 100 fly (1:01.03), senior Aisley Carter (Clarksburg, Md./Walter Johnson)  won the one-meter (242.25) and three-meter dive (260.47), sophomore Stephanie Anderer (Nesconset, N.Y./Smithtown HS East) won the 50 free (25.38) and junior Kori Kraus (Mays Landing/St. Joseph's) won the 100 back (1:00.18).

Also for the Bronc men, junior Brendan Cavallaro (Middleboro, Mass./Middleboro) won the three-meter dive (335.85), senior Ryan Nelthropp (Christiansted, V.I./St. Croix Country Day) won the 100 fly (53.25), sophomore Brian Molloy (Toms River/Toms River HS East) won the 100 fly (48.23), freshman Inaki Campos-Goenaga (Mexico City, Mexico/Bolles School) won the 100 back (55.19), senior Tom Smallwood (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) won the one-meter dive (273.75) and freshman Timothy Rappold (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) won the 100 breast (1:03.74).

The women's 400 medley relay of Kraus, senior Alicia Fimple (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby) O'Connor and sophomore Addie Oswald (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley) won with a time of 4:01.93.

The women's 200 free relay of Burns, freshman Danielle Warwick (Catonsville, Md./Mount de Sales Academy), Kraus and Anderer won with a time of 1:41.68.

The men's 400 medley relay of Funk, sophomore Jeremy Chaudet (Branchburg/Somerville), Newhouse and Hensen won with a time of 3:35.65.

Rider and Lafayette are no strangers to inclement weather having had their meet snowed out during the 2008-09 season.

The Rider men and women both won at Lafayette during the final dual meet of the 2007-08 season.

The women's team is now 10-11 all-time against Lafayette and the men's team improved to 25-12 against the Leopards which is the alma mater of Bronc head coach Steve Fletcher.

"Lafayette's head coach (Jim Dailey) is one of my mentors, not only in collegiate swimming but coaching swimming as well," Fletcher said.  "He is someone I look up to and who was a key to my success as an athlete at Lafayette.  I attribute a lot of my success to Jim and tonight was a unique meet for me as a coach."

Prior to the meet, Rider honored its graduating senior class of 2011 which swam their final dual meet at Coppola Pool in the Maurer Center.

Arciszewski, C.J. Kohner (Bloomington, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy), Steve Lempicky (Dalton, Pa./Abington Heights), Nelthropp, Smallwood and Mike Tubb (Swedesboro/St. Augustine Prep.) from the men's team were honored along with Burns, Carter, Fimple, Lindsay Simmons (Williston, Vt./Champlain Valley Union) and Renata Stoehr (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks West) from the women's team.

"This was a special night, especially for the seniors," said Fletcher.  "The attention and focus of the coaches was for the seniors to enjoy that last experience racing in our home pool.  Our program is setup to encourage maturity and leadership and to develop those 'go to' teammates and this class really had that ability to set those types of examples for the younger athletes in our program.  This class was exceptional."

Rider completes at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships February 17-19 at Erie Community College in Buffalo, New York.  Both teams placed runner-up at the 2010 MAAC championships at Loyola in Baltimore.

"Our goal as a team has remained the same for the last decade and that is to guide our athletes to optimal swims in a championship setting," Fletcher said.  "If they do that, the chips will fall for the team as they should and we'll be in contention for a conference title.  I have a lot of confidence in our team's ability to perform in high caliber meet situations."

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