Feb. 14, 2009
BALTIMORE MD. – The Marist women's swimming and diving team has three in the top eight in the 200-yd. butterfly. Senior co-captain Sandra Bujalski (Thomaston, Conn.), junior Victoria Kemp (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and freshman Amanda Letchko (Newton, N.J.) took the second, fourth and seventh qualifying spots respectively. As they head into the final night of action at the 2009 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships, the women's team is in second place with 486 points, trailing Rider who has 532.5 points. The Marist men are in third with 422 points.
All three of the women who qualified had season best times. Bujalski finished with a time of 2:06.37, Kemp finished with a time of 2:10.57 and Letchko touched the final wall with a time of 2:11.15. The trio will compete in the “A” Final tonight.
Two Red Foxes will compete in tonight's final in the women's 200-yd. backstroke will be freshman Alyssa Hewitt (Pittsfield, Mass.), 2:06.73. Additionally, two other Marist women will swim in the “B” Final of the same event. Sophomores Megan Flood (East Longmeadow, Mass.) and Jamie Connell (Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.) finished ninth and 14th in the qualifying heats.
In the men's 200-yd. backstroke, junior Luke Johnson (Pensacola, Fla.) is the only Marist male swimmer to qualify for the “A” Final tonight. He finished seventh overall with a time of 1:56.21. The rest of the field is comprised of three Rider swimmers and four Loyola swimmers, the two teams the Red Foxes are behind heading into the final night of competition.
Freshman Michelle Fountain (Sayville, N.Y.) was the only Marist swimmer entered in the women's 100-yd. freestyle. She won her heat with a time of 52.71 seconds and qualified for the championship heat, which will be raced tonight. She had the fourth-best time of over 50 swimmers in the event.
Junior Lyndsay Martin (Schenectady, N.Y.) was the Red Foxes' top qualifier in the 200-yd. breaststroke. She finished with a time of 2:25.96, a season best time. She is the third seed in tonight's championship heat. Freshman Caroline Skjong-Nilsen (Palmetto Bay, Fla.) and senior co-captain Savannah Puca (Huntington, N.Y.) finished 10th and 11th respectively and will race in the “B” Final tonight.
In the 200-yd. men's breaststroke junior Alan Roberts (Middletown, N.Y.) finished first in his heat and fourth overall with a time of 2:06.98. He will race in tonight's “A” Final. Last night, Roberts qualified for the United States Senior National Championships in the 100-yd. breaststroke with a MAAC record time of 55.92, as he won the conference championship in the event. He is just the third swimmer in Marist program history to qualify for the U.S. Senior National Championships.
In the men's 200-yd. butterfly, freshman Kevin Shoemaker (Saucon Valley, Pa.) and senior co-captain Mark Esolen (Archbald, Pa.) finished just .05 seconds apart to take the fifth and sixth spots in the “A” Final tonight. Shoemaker finished with a time of 1:55.62, while Esolen finished in 1:55.67.
The men's and women's swimming and diving programs will be back in action on Saturday night at 6 p.m. for the finals in the women's and men's 1,650-yd. freestyle, women's and men's 200-yd. backstroke, the women's and men's 100-yd. freestyle, the men's and women's 200-yd. breaststroke, the men's and women's 200-yd. butterfly, the women's 3-meter diving, the men's 1-meter diving, and the men's and women's 400-yd. freestyle relay.
The MAAC is streaming the event live and free of charge, HERE. There are also live stats, HERE.
