By Dominic Capone
The Fordham swimming and diving team finished their second meet of the 2018 campaign with another split. The women improved to 2-0 as the men fell to 0-2 as the teams faced Boston University. The women also welcomed in Brown University in a non-scoring event.
Despite the loss, the men had three total event wins compared to the women’s one. Sophomore Auston Ramsey picked up his first win of the season as he took first in the 100 backstroke in 52.46 seconds.
“We are an incredibly hard-working team. Unfortunately the first two meets didn’t go the way we expected,” Ramsey said after the match. “I wouldn’t say we need to change much, rather keep our heads down and try to not let the first two meets get to our heads.”
Senior diver Christopher Craig won the three-meter dive scoring 221.50 points. Bryce Bollesen took home a win in the 50 freestyle in 21.65 seconds, rounding out the first place finishes for the men.
Despite back-to-back losses to open up the season, Bollesen still has faith, saying, “I believe that our team is strong enough to be a top competitor at A10s. Our freshman this year are looking strong; I think it is possible for us to place top three at A10s.”
As for the women, they notched their second win of the season behind a solo win from Milly Furneaux. The graduate student won the 100 breaststroke for her first win as a Fordham Ram.
“There’s no better feeling than winning, especially with this team,” Furneaux explained after the win. “We just have to continue to work hard and put in the work to be able to keep up the wins.”
Fordham had some second place finishes as well. Michelle Martin came in second in the 50 freestyle (24.25) for the women, and Joseph Vizza had three second place finishes coming in the 200 (1:45.13), 50 (21.91) and 100 (47.88) freestyle races.
Travis Monahan, Lucas Keh, Bryce Bollesen and the aforementioned Vizza placed second with a time of 3:11.27 in the 400 freestyle relay. Monahan also came in second in the individual 100 breastroke (59.72).
Theresa Mullen, Michelle Martin, Tara Bruner and Milly Furneaux placed third in the 200 medley relay (1:47.32) missing second place by .01 seconds. There was another close call as Bayley Frierson missed second by .04 seconds in the 1000 yard freestyle finishing in 10:32.31.
The Fordham swimming and diving team will continue their home stand as they host Fairfield on Friday Nov. 9. The women look to go 3-0 for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign, as the men search for their first win of the season. This will be the final meet on the short home stand as they head out to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, for the Bucknell Invitational starting Nov. 16.
