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February 15, 1998 -- The Loyola College men's and women's swimming and diving teams concluded their 1997-98 seasons with excellent performances at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships. The Greyhounds had high expectations going into the meet held at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. on Feb. 13-15. The men were hoping to improve upon two straight fourth place finishes while the women were aiming to reclaim the MAAC title, which they lost last year to Marist by a mere five points. Although the conference titles eluded them, Loyola enjoyed a barrage of school record-breaking performances on both the men and women's sides as each team wound up finishing in third place.
The Marist men's team captured their third straight MAAC title, finishing with 1,119 points, a new conference record. The Red Foxes dominated the meet as they built a comfortable 215-point margin over second place Rider University. Loyola finished with 732 points, 82.5 points ahead of fourth place Niagara University, a team that defeated the Hounds earlier this season in duel meet competition.
On the women's side, Marist garnered their second straight MAAC championship by edging out a surging Rider team 929-883. Loyola tallied 866 points in the meet, 220 more points than fourth place Iona College.
The Greyhound men were ready for battle right from the start of the meet. In prelims, sophomore Ken Sposato split a 21.46 in his leadoff leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay to break the school record in the 50-yard free. The team of Sposato and seniors Ashley Loper, Tim Kelly and Mark Gallagher returned in the evening with the first place seed and held to form to win the event in a school record-shattering time of 1:25.80. The Hound relay squad fell a mere six tenths of a second short of breaking an eight-year-old MAAC record in that event.
The same four men, swimming in the order of Gallagher, Kelly, Sposato and Loper won the 200-yard medley relay the next day. Their time of 1:35.61 again shattered the school record and came within three tenths of a second of another eight-year-old MAAC record. "It would have been nice to set those records," said Gallagher, "but coming in first is satisfaction enough."
Gallagher capped off the most impressive career in Loyola history with his fourth straight MAAC title in the 50-yard freestyle. His time of 21.58 edged out teammate Sposato, who placed second in the event. The 1-2 finish by Loyola demonstrated the Hounds' dominance in the sprint events. Gallagher also added his third straight title in the 100-yard backstroke by breaking his own school record with a time of 52.52. His time was a mere 19 one-hundredths of a second short of a 12-year-old MAAC record. Gallagher finished off his individual events with a fourth place finish in the 100-yard butterfly.
Sposato was second highest point contributor behind Gallagher. His 50-yard freestyle performances on Friday were only a warm-up for his performances on Saturday. He captured the MAAC title in the 100-yard butterfly in a school record-breaking time of 53.51. He later added a second-place finish in the 100-yard breastroke. Falling three one-hundredths of a second short of the winner, Sposato erased another school record with his time of 59.79.
Sophomore John Moore again made his strong presence felt in the distance freestyle events. He took second-place for the second straight year in the 500-yard freestyle. His time of 4:40.58 crushed his old school record in that event. He placed fourth in the 200-yard free on Saturday (1:44.56) and finished similarly in the 1650-yard free. His time of 16:35.22 in the mile broke the school record he set at ECAC's last year.
Surging at the end of the year, senior Jon Lang finished his outstanding career at Loyola with his fastest MAAC championship meet ever. He placed fifth in both the 200-yard breastroke (2:14.77) and the 400-yard IM (4:21.08). His time in the breastroke broke a six-year-old record in that event. His time 2:00.38 in the 200-yard IM was good enough for eighth place and made him the second fastest Loyola swimmer all-time in that event.
Tim Kelly finished in fifth place in the 100-yard breastroke with a personal best time of 1:01.21. Freshman Paul Blasucci nearly missed a school record in the 200-yard butterfly with his time of 2:02.67. He took twelfth place in the event.
Although finishing in fourth place, the 400-yard medley relay team of Gallagher, Kelly, Sposato and Moore broke a school record in that event with a time of 3:31.71.
Seniors Will Bryant and John Gunther finished their diving careers in stellar fashion. Bryant and Gunther took fifth and sixth respectively in the conference in the one-meter diving competition. Bryant added a fourth place finish in the three-meter diving competition. "It feels good to go out on a high note," said Bryant. The Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J. native has steadily moved up the MAAC rankings in the three years he has competed, having never had any prior diving experience.
The Lady Hounds did not capture any individual MAAC championships, but their talented depth kept them in a three-way struggle with Marist and Rider for the title all through the weekend.
Freshman Brie Hawkins started her MAAC championship career off with a solid third-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle. Her time of 5:17.35 blew away her old school mark in that event. Sophomore Michelle Russo, one of the most improved and not to mention talented swimmers on the women's team, took fifth. Loyola capitalized in this event by placing five swimmers in the top 18: Hawkins, Russo, Jenny Redfield, Sarah Hewes and Megan Moran.
Hawkins also finished third in the 200-yard freestyle (2:00.69) and fourth in the 1650-yard free, setting a new school record in the event with a time of 18:18.21. Sophomore Sara Hewes finished sixth in the mile (18:56.16).
Last year's leading scorer among Loyola's large freshman class, Christine Gahagan, again emerged on the scene in the sprint freestyle events. She placed fifth in the 50-yard freestyle (25.80) and the 200-yard free (2:01.66). She capped the meet off with a third place finish in the 100-yard free 55.60.
Russo followed her standout performance in the 500-yard free with a sixth place finish in the 200-yard free (2:02.31) and another fifth place finish in the 100-yard free (56.94).
The Lady Hounds took an early lead on Saturday by placing seven swimmers in the top 18 of the 400-yard IM. Although none made the final heat, Stacey Brooks, Star Moran, Sarah Hewes, Dana Lau, Brooks Palermo, Megan Moran and Trista Baxter all swam the grueling event and scored big for Loyola. They wound up taking seven of the eight places between seventh and fourteenth.
Junior Kathleen Griffin had her most productive MAAC championship meet in three years. She was narrowly edged out for first place in the three-meter diving competition and took third in the one-meter diving competition.
Another strong event for the Lady Hounds was the 200-yard backstroke. Freshman Hilary Flint made a nice first impression by finishing third in the event with a time of 2:15.03. That places her second on the list all-time fastest 200-yard backstrokers at Loyola. Sophomore Jen Wood, who suffered from back problems throughout the season, placed sixth.
Unfortunately, the women could not make a run at their fifth title. The Lady Hounds lost a lot of ground in relays. None of their squads finished higher than fourth in any of the five different relays. Meanwhile Marist and Rider placed first and second in every relay -- Rider winning three times.
This year's meet was probably the most competitive MAAC swimming and diving championship this decade. Every event reached new levels of speed as times dropped all around from previous years. Five long-standing MAAC records were broken -- the most to fall in any one year since 1990. Only three records had fallen since 1990.
Rider freshman Jen O'Reilly of Aberdeen, Maryland earned the MAAC most outstanding female swimmer award by breaking the MAAC records in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events (53.21 and 1:54.75) as well as taking the 200-yard individual medley. Grace Martinez of Iona set the 100-yard backstroke record with a time of 59.77. Rider's 200-yard freestyle relay team set a new MAAC standard in that event with a time of 1:39.52. Melanie Addington, one of five Marist divers, garnered the MAAC most outstanding female diver award. Addington won the three-meter diving competition and placed second in the one-meter diving competition.
Marist's Griffin McNeese became the first man to break a MAAC record in seven years as he blew away the field in the 400-yard IM (4:01.18). McNeese also won the 1650-yard freestyle. His freshman teammate, Dave Dobbins captured the MAAC most outstanding male swimmer award as he captured the 100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyle events. Marist senior Chris Blackwell was honored with the MAAC most outstanding male diver award as he captured both the one and three meter diving events. He previously won this award in 1996.
Men's Results |
Women's Results |
| 1. Marist | 1,119.0 | 1. Marist | 929.0 | |
| 2. Rider | 904.0 | 2. Rider | 883.0 | |
| 3. Loyola | 732.0 | 3. Loyola | 866.0 | |
| 4. Niagara | 649.5 | 4. Iona | 646.0 | |
| 5. Iona | 558.0 | 5. Fairfield | 542.0 | |
| 6. St. Peter's | 513.5 | 6. Niagara | 549.0 | |
| 7. Fairfield | 233.0 | 7. St. Peter's | 301.0 | |
| 8. Canisius | 205.0 | |||
| 9. Manhattan | 48.0 |
1998 Outstanding Male Swimmer: Dave Dobbins, Marist
1998 Outstanding Female Swimmer: Jen O'Reilly, Rider
1998 Outstanding Male Diver: Chris Blackwell, Marist
1998 Outstanding Female Diver: Melanie Addington, Marist
Complete times and results coming soon! Final Heats
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