WOMEN’S RECORD FALLS;

RELAY, GRIMES TAKE TOP HONORS IN DAY TWO OF CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Dec. 1: The second day of the 2007 Liberty League Swimming and Diving Championships was just as exciting as the first for St. Lawrence University, as the Saints broke a team record and added another swimmer to the list of conference champions. The women placed sixth overall, while the men finished in seventh place.

The opening event of the second day of competition belonged to the Saints, as senior captain Kim Watcke, first year Hannah Grimes, sophomore Abbey Lynch, and junior Ashley Bogosian swam to a record-breaking first place finish in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:53.84, breaking the previous St. Lawrence team record of 1:54.15, which was set in 2006.

The excitement from the event gave the team much momentum, as the women continued to see a number of great swims. Grimes had the first individual win for the women Saturday morning in the 100-yard breaststroke, as the rookie touched the wall first, just ahead of Hamilton’s Kate Rack, with a time of 1:11.11. The Hamden, CT native also added a third place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke, where the top three competitors were separated by less than three-tenths of a second.

Lynch led the women with 82 points at the meet, scoring 55 of those in individual races. In addition to her 3 rd place finish in the 50-yard freestyle on Friday night, the Norwood, NY native placed second in the 100-yard free with a time of 55.88, and placed third in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:01.56. The sprinter also had an 11 th place finish in the 200-yard free.

Also scoring big for the women was Watcke, who came in eighth place in the 100-yard back with a 1:04.34, and placed tenth in the 200-yard back, touching at 2:18.30. Bogosian also posted an impressive meet, scoring points in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle with 14 th place finishes in both races. In the backstroke, the Massena, NY native had a season best time of 1:05.53, while in the free she touch with a 56.99, also a season best.

Sophomore Kate Waters put the Saints on the board in the distance events, placing eighth in the mile with a time of 19:25.98. Others scoring in individual races for the women on the second day of competition were Meg Derby in the 100 fly (1:04.47), junior Devan Meserve in the 400 IM (5:09.64) and the 200 fly (2:26.65), and first year Cassie Dudar in the 200 fly (2:35.37).

Union College won the meet on the women’s side with 687.5 points, while RPI and the University of Rochester finished second and third, respectively.

For the men, Ibler continued to tally up the points, as he accounted for 62.5 of the 199 points the Saints accumulated throughout the meet, with 44 of those points coming from individual races. The sprinter’s second day included a second place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a season best time of 48.56, and an 11 th place finish in the 100-yard fly with a time of 55.66.

First year Jared Pellerin had a breakout swim meet, as he scored in all of his individual races on Saturday. The rookie, who hails from Plattsburgh, NY, finished ninth in the 1650-yard free (18:01), 13 th in the 200-yard fly (2:13.35), and 16 th in the 200-yard free (1:55.92).

Sophomore Stephen Dally scored in both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke, placing 15 th and eighth, respectively. The Tonawanda, NY native finished with a 1:05.58 in the 100, while touching at 2:23.53 in the 200. Also scoring for the Saints on Saturday was senior captain Dave Burnham, who placed 16 th in the mile, and junior captain Matt Feldman, who finished 15 th in the 100-yard backstroke.

The University of Rochester won the conference on the men’s side with a total of 790 points, while RPI and Union rounded out the top three.

The championship meet concludes the first part of the Saints’ 2007-2008 season. St. Lawrence will enter 2008 with a 3-3 overall record and will face SUNY Potsdam in their last home meet of the season on Friday, January 18 th following a week-long training trip to Wellington, Florida. The meet is set to begin at 4:00pm.

IBLER EARNS INDIVIDUAL WIN,

WOMEN STRONG DURING DAY ONE OF CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Nov. 30: The St. Lawrence men’s and women’s swim teams were quick to the walls Friday afternoon at the 2007 Liberty League Swimming and Diving Championships, as many of the swimmers and relays tallied top ten finishes and clocked in with several seasonal best times to round out the first of three sessions at the meet, which is being held at Union College’s Alumni Gymnasium Pool in Schenectady, NY. The women end the first session in 4th place, while the men are tied for 6th with Clarkson.

Sophomore Robo Ibler was the highlight of Friday’s session for the Saints, as the Independence, MN native defended his Liberty League title and won the 50-yard freestyle for the second straight year with a personal best time of 21.73, beating his winning time from last year by nearly six-tenths. Ibler’s best time in his rookie season was a 21.84 at the UNYSCSA Championships in February.

In addition to Ibler, senior captain Dave Burnham finished in 15 th place in the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:16.15, his best in-season time this year, adding to the Saints’ point total.

The 200-yard A free relay team, which included sophomore Brandon Barone, senior Steve Walano, first year Mike McPhillips, and Ibler, came in 5 th overall in the race with a time of 1:33.54, while the B relay, which consisted of first year Rob Sibley, Burnham, first year Jared Pellerin, and senior Geoff Walano, also finished fifth among the other B relays, posting a time of 1:36.78.

In the 400-yard medley relay, St. Lawrence’s A relay, including junior captain Matt Feldman, sophomore Stephen Dally, sophomore Matt Kirkpatrick, and Burnham, finished seventh with a time of 3:59.25, while the B relay placed sixth out of the B relays. The team, which included Walano, Sibley, Pellerin, and Barone touched at 4:08.14.

The women had an impressive first session, as the depth of the team was evident in many of the races, most notably the 50-yard free, where five Saints placed in the top ten out of a field of 56 swimmers. Sophomore Abbey Lynch led the way with a 3 rd place finish, clocking in at 25.66 while junior Ashley Bogosian was just five-hundredths behind her, coming in 4 th with a 25.71. Senior captain Kim Watcke swam to a 7 th place finish with a time of 25.93, while first years Meg Derby and Katy Kozminski rounded out the top ten with 9 th and 10 th place finishes, respectively. Both swimmers had season best times in the event, with Derby finishing at 26.01 and Kozminski at 26.11.

In the 200-yard free relay, the Saints’ A relay, which included Bogosian, Watcke, Derby, and Lynch, battled with Union for the first win of the meet, as both were a body length ahead of the other six teams in the heat after only the first leg. The Dutchwomen had the Saints by over half a second until Lynch dove in and closed the gap in the last 50 yards of the race to go stroke-for-stroke with Union’s Christa White to the finish, but would touch just behind the Dutchwoman, earning second place honors and finishing with a time of 1:41.67, 11-hundredths behind Union.

The Saints’ B relay finished third among the other B relay teams in the event, clocking in at 1:46.95. The relay included first years Kozminski, Alden Bush, and Hannah Grimes as well as junior Meg Vaughn.

Grimes had a great individual race in the 200-yard IM, earning sixth place with a time of 2:18.93, over three seconds faster than her previous best this season. The Hamden, CT native also raced in the 400-yard medley relay with Watcke, Lynch, and Bogosian, who placed third in the race with a time of 4:12.08. The Saints B team, which included first year Cassie Dudar, junior Devan Meserve, Bush, and sophomore Kate Waters, finished 6 th out of all the B relays, clocking in at 4:33.78.

The Saints will dive back into competition with the rest of the league Saturday morning at 9:00am for the second session, while the third and final session of the meet is scheduled to begin at 4:00pm Saturday afternoon.