Lady Bears Swimming Makes A Splash In First Intercollegiate Competition
BRONXVILLE, NY - St. Joseph's College - Brooklyn Athletics achieved yet another historic milestone this year as it competed in its first-ever intercollegiate swimming meet, a double-dual against Sarah Lawrence College and the College of New Rochelle held in Bronxville, NY at Sarah Lawrence College last Saturday. Athletic Director, Frank P. Carbone exclaims, "This is a very exciting day for St. Joseph's College Athletics. We have an extremely talented and dedicated group of young women here and have proven themselves to be competitive in just a short period of time despite the limited resources at our disposal."
Prior to the competition, the team practiced for about a month using the pool at the nearby Brooklyn Technical High School. Due to the limited availability, the team practiced just twice a week, usually late in the evening. The Lady Bears fared well in the exhibition competition (as they are currently only a club team) against two schools with well established swimming programs with their own pools on campus and the chance to practice regularly. In various heats that featured up to 6 swimmers in each event, St. Joseph's recorded second place finishes in 5 of the 14 events and finished in third or better in 10 events. Although St. Joseph's lost the dual meet to both Sarah Lawrence (79-44) and New Rochelle (71-53), Coach Leonard DiVirgiliocould not have been more pleased with the outcome. "I'm truly amazed at what this fine group of women have accomplished in such a short period of time. Had it not been for a few disqualifications caused by over-enthusiasm and a lack of meet experience, the scores would have been much closer, but those are both positive signs that can be easily corrected with more practice," stated DeVirgilio, who accepted the newly created coaching position this past October. "With a few more weeks of practice and with the ability to now attract some more talented swimmers to St. Joseph's," added DeVirgilio, "can you imagine how quickly this program will develop?"
Among the terrific performances were stellar efforts from Freshman Kristen McMaster (Brooklyn, NY / Fontbonne), who recorded second place finishes in all four events she swam: 100 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, 100 Breaststroke and anchoring the 200 Freestyle Relay. Freshman Alison Nunziata (Brooklyn, NY / Bishop Kearney) nearly had the only first place finish for the Lady Bears, leading most of the 50 Free, but fell to third at the wall, edged out of a win by .44 seconds and out of second by .09 seconds, finishing with a time of 31.19. Nunziata also finished in 3rd in the 200 IM, and swam the fastest split (30.91) out of all swimmers in the 200 Freestyle Relay that took second. Senior Jennifer Safi (Brooklyn, NY / Bishop Kearney) and freshman Elizabeth Fiorella (Brooklyn, NY / Bishop Kearney) took second and third in the 50 Breaststroke with Fiorella finishing third again 100 Breaststroke. Additional third place finishes were picked up by sophomore Brianne Reilly (Queens, NY / Frank Sinatra) in the 100 IM, freshman Darcy Crimi (Queens, NY / Christ the King) in the 100 Butterfly and junior Jackie Collins (Brooklyn, NY / Fontbonne) in the 200 Free.
Buoyed by the surprisingly strong debut performance, DeVirgilio and Carbone are already scoping out a modified competitive exhibition slate of meets through January and February. "I would have been pleased to just initiate a successful club team this year," stated Carbone, "but the combination of Lenny's expertise and our women's dedication have caused me to accelerate our original timetable." Regardless of the outcome this season, you can be sure to expect more great things at poolside from the Lady Bears in the near future.