The Loyola College men's and women's swimming and diving teams head in new directions this year. While looking to continue their streaks of strong performances under head coach Brian Loeffler, Loyola hopes to rebound from a somewhat disappointing end to last season. After capturing four straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles, the women fell five points short of Marist at MAAC Championships last February. In 1996, Loyola had edged out Marist by a scant one and one-half points. The two teams alternated the lead position throughout the three-day meet, but Marist won the final event, the 400 yard freestyle relay, to overtake Loyola, leaving the Lady Hounds stunned. Hoping to gain the upper hand on their conference foes, the men finished in fourth place at MAAC Championships for the second straight season, behind repeat champion Marist, Rider, and Niagara. The men had won the MAAC title in 1995. Despite the unfortunate finishes, Loyola had many eye-opening individual performances that they can carry into this season.
The 1997-98 women's roster has a much different look to it than in past years. A deep and talented group of nine seniors graduated from team last year including three-time MAAC Most Outstanding Swimmer Amy Cole. As a result, the team is left with only six women who have been on victorious MAAC teams. Senior captain Stacey Brooks and junior captain Dana Lau will lead this year's team, the majority of which is comprised of freshmen and sophomores.
The core of the team is its large sophomore class, led by sprinter Christine Gahagan. Second on the team in scoring last year, Gahagan will once again be a major factor in the team's success, competing in the 50, 100, and 200 yard freestyle events as well as anchoring relays. Backstroker Jen Wood will be another main contributor. Last year Wood finished fourth on the team in scoring as well as setting the team record in the 200 meter backstroke. Wood should see action in backstroke and sprint freestyle events. 100 meter backstroke record-holder Trista Baxter was seventh on the team in scoring last season and is expected to continue her excellence in the backstroke and individual medley. Michelle Russo and Sarah Hewes were two other sophomores that emerged on the scene last year. Russo is a versatile swimmer that has strengths in all strokes but will probably compete mainly in the freestyle and butterfly events. Hewes is a hard-working swimmer that frequently finds herself entered in the grueling distance events. She set the school record for the 1000 yard freestyle at MAAC Championship last season.
Other determining factors in the success of this year's team will be the performance of new swimmers. The women's team added five freshmen recruits to the roster and five more sophomores joined the team for this season. This will maintain Loyola's depth and allow Loeffler to turn to several different sources for results. The standouts among the freshmen recruits are Brie Hawkins, Hilary Flint and Kate Nally. Hawkins is expected to score big for Loyola in all the freestyle events. Flint will be a strong contributor in the backstroke, individual medley and butterfly. Nally should be a standout in the butterfly and also add more depth in the freestyle events.
The team is anticipating more solid point production from its divers. Junior Kathleen Griffin finished fifth on the team in scoring last season and is the leader in career points scored among active swimmers and divers. Griffin qualified for ECACs last season and is in search of an elusive MAAC individual diving title. Junior Marlow Perkins is another solid contributor on the diving squad.
The 1997-98 Loyola men's team feel that this is their year to shine in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Losing only one senior, Jamie Bifulco, to graduation last Spring, the men feel that the additions to their already strong and talented team will give them a little more firepower to propel them past their opponents this year. Senior captains Mark Gallagher and Sean Smith will lead this year's team that can say it is one year older and one year wiser.
A large part of the talent and spirit lies in the team's ten seniors, eight of which have links to the team's championship in 1995. They hope to garner one more title in their career's at Loyola. Headlining the group is last year's MAAC Most Outstanding Swimmer and team MVP Mark Gallagher. Holding school records in four different individual yard events and five different individual meter events as well as a member of several record-holding relay teams, Gallagher is fourth on the all-time points scored list. He needs just 155 points this season to become Loyola's all-time career points leader. He competes in the sprint events for all four strokes, but his strong events are his 50 yard freestyle and his 100 yard backstroke. Last year he qualified for ECACs.
Another talented backstroker, Ashley Loper, is currently twelfth on the all-time points scored list. Loper has been a steady producer for the team the past three years and will continue to put up big points this year in the 50 yard freestyle and 100 and 200 yard backstroke events. Standout senior Jonathan Lang, who is currently the fifteenth highest point-scorer in school history, is a versatile swimmer who likes the individual medley, breastroke and butterfly events. He should once again be a factor in Loyola's success. After studying abroad in Belgium last year, Tim Kelly returns for his Senior season and adds more excellence in sprint events including the 50 and 100 yard freestyle and the 100 yard breastroke. Hard-working David Raver will continue to tear into the competition, especially in distance freestyle and individual medley events.
This years sophomore class was a huge contributor for the team last season. John Moore, Vin Massey, and Ken Sposato finished second, third and fourth on the team in scoring respectively. Moore showed up big in the distance events last season, breaking the school records in 500, 1000 and 1650 yard freestyle events as well as the records in the 400 and 800 meter freestyles. Both he and Massey were qualifiers for ECACs. He will again be the teams number one distance swimmer. Massey is a freestyler that should start seeing action in a variety of events this year including the individual medley. He set the school records in the 200 yard and meter freestyle events and had huge efforts in anchoring several record-breaking relays. Sposato, who came up big at MAAC Championships last February by finishing second on the team in individual scoring, is a pure sprinter who does the 100 yard breastroke, 100 yard butterfly and the 50 yard freestyle. Another key contributor among the sophomores is Ryan Davis. Finishing ninth on the team in scoring last season, Davis adds muscle in the breastroke and individual medley.
New on the men's team this year are four freshmen swimmers and one freshman diver. Among them is Paul Blasucci, a butterflyer and distance freestyler. Andrew Conrad will be a quality contributor in sprint freestyle events.
The Loyola men expect another year of successful competition from their divers. Senior Will Bryant emerged as the leader of the diving squad. With his high degree of difficulty dives, Will finished seventh on the team in scoring and qualified for ECACs last season. Fourth-year diver John Gunther will also be a main factor in Loyola's success. Freshman Jeff McCarthy addition will bolster the diving squad.
Loyola's schedule this year features may of the same opponents as last year, yet it has a different look to it. The Hounds face their traditional foes: conference rivals Fairfield, Canisius (women only), Niagara, Marist, St. Peter's, and non-conference schools Georgetown, Virginia Military Institute (men only), William and Mary, Colgate, Howard, St. Francis (women only), Towson, Navy (women only), and Delaware. The main difference is a two-day invitational meet at Georgetown in December. Loyola will face off against Georgetown, Colgate, and Marist in a quad-meet format in which all the championship events will be swum.
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