Fordham’s women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams wrapped up their seasons with the Atlantic 10 Championships three weeks ago. After an undefeated regular season, the women’s team came in third, while the men’s team finished in sixth.
The highlight of the event was junior Ainhoa Martin, who stole the show with three first-place finishes en route to being named the Most Outstanding Performer of the championship.
The Championships began on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in Hampton, Va. Two school records were broken in the first two events of the day, both of the 200 medley relays.
The women’s squad of graduate students Jane Brown and Manon Compagner, along with juniors Emma Shaughnessy and Jessica Zebrowski, beat their best time of 1:40.17, which set the record last year, with a new record of 1:39.67. The time earned them the silver medal and Second Team All-Atlantic 10.
The men’s team followed up the record-breaking time with one of their own. The team, composed of sophomore Christian Taylor, senior Noah Althoff, graduate student Guy Gropper and junior Alexander Shah, bested their record mark from earlier in the year of 1:28.04 by almost two seconds with a time of 1:26.19. The time also earned them silver and second-team honors.
In the 800 freestyle relay, more records were broken, this time without the shiny second-place finishes.
For the women’s, the team of Ainhoa, junior Leire Martin and Emilie Krog, along with graduate student Alison Lin, captured bronze with a new school record of 7:18.45, which broke the long-standing 2010 record of 7:20.82. In the third-place finish, Ainhoa broke the 200 freestyle pace with a time of 1:47.91, beating the five-year-old record of 1:48.53.
The men’s team also set a school record as Althoff, senior Alex Wilhelm, junior Vitalis Onu and graduate student Wojcieh Dutkowiak passed the old best mark in the men’s 800 freestyle relay of 6:33.71 after finishing in 6:35.86. The time was good enough for a sixth-place finish.
The women’s team ended the day in second place, while the men’s found themselves in sixth.
More records were broken on day two of the championships. First up was Ainhoa, who broke another school record, this time in the 200 individual medley with a score of 1:58.25, beating her own record time she set in 2022. Her fast pace also earned her the top time in the event and a gold medal.
On the men’s side, it was Gropper who set a school record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 19.62 en route to a third-place finish and bronze medal. The men also set a school-best time of 1:19.01 in the 200 freestyle relay, with the team of Taylor, Gropper, Althoff and junior Alexander Shah finishing in second place and earning a silver medal.
At the day’s end, the women’s team had moved back to fourth place while the men’s team moved up to second.
On the third day of competition, the women’s team stole the show, medaling a total of five times, including two golds.
Starting with the women’s 100 butterfly, Zebrowski and Compagner both earned podium finishes. Zebrowski won the event in 53.24 seconds, while Compagner came in third with a time of 53.47 seconds.
In the women’s 400 individual medley, Ainhoa again claimed first, her second first-place finish of the tournament, with a time of 4:15.06, giving the Rams two first-place finishes in the first two women’s events.
The fourth medal of the day came when Shaughnessy placed second in the 100 breaststroke with a new school record of 1:01.13. The final women’s medal came from the 400 medley relay, with Brown, Shaughnessy, Zebrowski and Compagner taking home silver with another school-best time of 3:39.51.
On the men’s side, there were no podium finishes until the 400 medley relay team of Taylor, Althoff, Gropper and Wilhelm finished in third with a time of 3:13.21. Although there were no podium spots in the individual events on day three for the men, Dutkowiak broke the 200 freestyle school record.
The women finished the day moving up to third place while the men dropped to fourth.
On the final day of the event, history was made when Ainhoa won her third individual event of the championship after claiming the top spot in a tightly contested 200 breaststroke. She won in a school and A-10 record of 2:09.55, becoming the first Ram to win three individual events in the same A-10 championship. The three gold medals earned her the honor of being named the Most Outstanding Performer, the second Fordham woman to do so.
Also, on the day, Compagner finished second in the 100 freestyle in a school record time of 49.36 seconds.
On the men’s side, the final day brought more record-breaking performances. In the 100 freestyle, Gropper claimed bronze with a school record of 43.52 seconds. While the team of Shah, Taylor, Wilhelm and Althoff broke the school and previous A-10 record in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 2:54.59, good enough for second place.
In total, the Rams shattered 16 school records and placed on the podium in 15 events, an incredible showing. The women’s team led the way with 10 podium finishes, nine record-breaking performances and, of course, the Most Outstanding Performer of the tournament with Ainhoa. The men’s team took home five podium finishes and broke a total of seven school records.
