Feb. 8, 2007
Final Stats
BALTIMORE, MD. - Senior captain Pat Collins (Nutley, N.J.) set a new Marist record in the 50-yard freestyle on Thursday during the first day of competition at the 2006-07 MAAC Championships. Following day one Marist stands in second place just a half point behind front running Rider for the lead.
The Red Foxes opened the championships with a second place effort in the 200-yard freestyle relay on Thursday evening. Ed Gurka III (Pompton Plains, N.J.), Will Shearouse (Milford, N.H.), Greg Jablonski (Massapequa, N.Y.) and Collins posted a time of 1:24.77, trailing only the team from Loyola who held of the Foxes to win the event with a time of 1:24.53.
Marist would follow up the relay performance by taking third, fourth and fifth palce in the 500-yard freestyle. Senior Nick Chevalier (Milford, N.H.) was the first Marist swimmer to finish, posting a time of 4:41.15. He was followed closely by Ralph Rienzo (Wallingford, Conn.) in fourth place in a time of 4:41.43 and Spencer Hartmann (Windsor, Conn.) in fifth, touching with a time of 4:41.49.
The Red Foxes placed three swimmers in the top ten in the 200-yard individual medley, led by Jablonski in third place with a final time of 1:52.77. Senior captain Brandon Youse (Boyertown, Pa.) took fifth place in the event with a time of 1:56.08, while Kevin Quinn (Neponsit, N.Y) finished in 10th in 2:00.21.
Collins led the field in the 50 free when he broke his own school record by swimming a time of 20.85. Collins swam a time 20.88 in the preliminaries earlier Thursday. Shearouse swam to a ninth place finish with a time of 22.12, while Gurka took 11th, showing a time of 22.34.
In the final swimming event of the evening the Red Foxes took second place in the 400-yard medley relay. The squad of Dan Garaffa (Manchester, Conn.), Jablonski, Chevalier and Collins posted a time of 3:25.62
Marist also had seven members of its team named to the MAAC All-Academic Team on Thursday. Garaffa (Business Administration/Marketing), Gurka (Business Administration/Finance), Jablonski (Business Administration/Finance), Rienzo (Criminal Justice), Shearouse (Chemistry), Matt Walsh (Wantagh, N.Y./Journalism and Spanish) and Youse ((Business Administration/Finance) all earned academic honors for the Red Foxes. To earn All-Academic honors a student-athlete must complete two semesters at his institution and hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.2.
Marist will return to action tomorrow morning on day two of the Championships. The Red Foxes are searching for their third straight league title this weekend. Check back to GoRedFoxes.com for results on day two.
