Participating in the Mount St. Mary's University Invitational, the Jaspers held their own against stiff opposition and continued to improve on what has been a strong start to the 2010-11 season. Consisting of Mt. St. Mary's (women), Saint Peter's College, NJIT, Manhattan College, and the Virginia Military Institute, the two-day event featured 22 total events for both the men's and women's sides.
Making the switch to a 25-meter pool for the contest, Manhattan started slow on day one before picking up their performance in a big way on day two. In the first day of the event, the men's side (5-3) went 1-2, defeating NJIT 139-49 while also falling to V.M.I. and Saint Peter's by scores of 116-86 and 133-63, respectively.
Leading the team was freshman sprinter TJ McCarthy who continued his stellar start by winning the 200-meter freestyle (2:00.15) and finishing second in the 100-meter butterfly (58.25). Sophomore Robert Varieur also placed first in a day-one event, recording a time of 54.21 in the 100-meter freestyle.
For the women's team, the beginning of the meet proved to be a difficult test for the newly-vamped squad. Manhattan fell to Mt. St. Mary's and Saint Peter's College by final totals of 132-63, 117-73, before coming back to beat V.M.I. by a 117-43 score.
Pacing the Jaspers was a trio of swimmers, including freshman Nadine Maher and Vanessa L"Heureux and senior Bridget Latino. Maher finished second (30.37) in a highly competitive 50-meter freestyle sprint while L'Heureux excelled in the 100-meter freestyle (1:03.84) and breaststroke (1:24.76), placing second and third in the events. Latino swam a strong 1:09.31 to end fourth overall in the 100-meter butterfly.
"On both sides, we are not far away from being really competitive with the better teams on our schedule," Coach Walter Olsewski stated. "The men's team is proving to be one not taken lightly while the women are continuing to really improve. The future is bright for both sides."
While the first half of the competition proved to have mixed results, the final day validated the Jaspers' belief that they can hold their own with any team in the opposing lane. With final scores of 148-37, 111-88 and 83-188, the men's team recorded a 2-1 ledger in wins over NJIT and VMI and a loss to Saint Peter's in the second go-around.
Swimming with extreme focus and determination, McCarthy and fellow newcomer Chris Fusco dominated their opponents in the water and shattered two school records in the process.
Quickly becoming a team leader in sprint competition, McCarthy easily placed first in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 53.60, breaking the mark previously set by Varieur in 2009. Another strong first-year swimmer for the Green and White, Fusco showed his dominance in another type of event, winning the 200-meter backstroke with a record-time of 2:18.15. Proving there is more to this team than singular accolades, the foursome of sophomores Cullen Balcanoff, Mickey Ruddy and Mike Scire and freshman Dennis Daly combined for a scorching 1:55.06 overall, good for first in the 200-meter medley relay. In the 400-meter free relay, the pairing of Varieur, Fusco, McCarthy and freshman Patrick Sweeney ended with a time of 3:46.11, to place them second.
"Saturday was a tremendous effort by the men's team as the rebounded in a big way and capitalized on their opportunities. It was truly about the team, from the starting medley to the freestyle relay."
Building on their accomplishments from their previous day, the women's side battled from the opening race and swam with great purpose despite a 1-2 record. Manhattan defeated V.M.I. for the second consecutive day with a score of 128-37 before dropping two to Saint Peter's and Mt. St. Mary's, 75-105 and 65-131.
Similar to day one, Manhattan received great efforts from both youth and veterans in their final effort at Mt. St. Mary's. Getting the Jaspers into the win column was senior Debbie Atwell, who swam an impressive 3:05.03 to win the 200-meter breaststroke event. With a second week of excellent swimming, freshman Melanie Tam provided a positive result with a second place finish in the 50-meter freestyle (30.53) while Latino finished third in the 200-meter butterfly (2:36.09). Working well as a unit, L'Heureux, Tam, Latino and fellow senior Rebecca Schwartz recorded a final time of 4:29.72 to pick up a second place finish in the 400-meter free relay.
"Behind a solid 200-meter breaststroke from Debbie Atwell and key swimming by our entire team, the women's side had a strong second day and the results showed. They continue to battle every time out."
Manhattan College will head to New Rochelle, N.Y. on Friday, Nov. 5th for a 5 p.m. showdown with Iona College.
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