Swimming and Diving split meet against BC

   The Red Foxes took to the pool against Boston College this past weekend at McCann Natatorium. The Eagles, traditionally one of the upper-tier programs in the ACC, presented a challenge for Marist.

   On the women's side, the Red Foxes defeated Boston College by a score of 173-122. The win marks the 10th dual meet win of the season for Marist, setting a program record since haed coach Larry VanWagner and Melanie Bolstad took over as coaches of the program.

   The true dominance may not be shown in the score, but in the fact that the Red Foxes swept all 16 events over the course of the meet. The clean sweep included two wins each by Michelle Fountain, Kate Conard, Erica Vitale, Maddie Arciello, Greta Leberfinger and Kimberly Tobias.

   Another notable swimmer for the Red Foxes was Allison Kreho, who finished 2nd in the 100-yd backstroke with a time of 1:00.18.

   "I usually struggle in this meet every year due to the timing of it, but I tried to put it behind me," Kreho said. She also added about the team's performance that she thinks the team is "mentally prepared" for MAACs.

   For the divers, Coach Melanie Bolstad said that "the team performed very well," especially Sean Molloy in the 3-meter and Jacob Baker in the 1-meter events. Along with the solid performances from the men, the girls swept the top three places in the 1-meter event. Molloy qualified for NCAAs in the 3-meter event and recorded the second-highest score in program history with a score of 330 against Southern Connecticut State earlier this month.

   The men's team came up just short 173-126, but VanWagner seemed relatively upbeat about the result.

   "There were six events I thought we could've out-touched them, that would have made up 60 points and won us the meet," VanWagner said.

   He also had great respect for the Boston College program, saying that "they are a better program and a few upsets were needed in order to get the win."

   Despite the losing effort, there were a few winners among the Red Fox swimmers, with freshman Jason Ruddy recording 3 wins and Nick Spinella also taking home a victory. Ruddy won in the 200-yd butterfly, the 100-yd fly and the 200-yd IM, while Spinella took home the title in the 200-yd backstroke with a time of 1:56.26.

   Also notable were the 11 second-place finishes recorded by the Red Foxes, which, as referenced before, could have made the difference in the meet. The runner-up finishes included sophomore Alex Lombardi and freshmen Evan Uy and Dylan Cummings each finishing within .10 seconds of the victor in each of their respective races.

   "The Eagles were a great way to match up someone with the same ability level athletically and the close races will prepare us for any potential touch-outs at MAACs," senior Joe Papiro said.

   The MAAC Championships will be held in Buffalo from Feb. 16-18.

   Up next for the Red Foxes is their final meet of the regular season on Senior Day against the Seton Hall Pirates of the Big East conference. The meet will take place Saturday, Jan. 28 at 1 p.m. in the McCann Natatorium.