By NICK CILIBERTO
STAFF WRITER
Fordham swimming split a home meet against the University of Massachusetts Saturday, as the men fell to the Minutemen 183-113 while the women were victorious with a score of 176-120.
On the women’s side, three Rams won multiple events. Senior Brienne Ryan took first in the 200-yard freestyle in her season-best time of 1:53.55. She also won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52.10 seconds. Sophomore Kelly Carroll was victorious in both breaststroke events. She captured the 100-yard event in 1:07.15 and the 200-yard edition in 2:26.23. Freshman Shannon Lulley took first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.73 in a very close and exciting race, winning by a slim margin of 0.01 seconds. She also took first in the 100-yard butterfly in 58.72 seconds.
All three women continued their productive afternoons as members of the relay teams, joining senior Alana Biagioli to win the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:46.38. Ryan and a squad of Biagioli, senior Kellie Lyver and freshman Chandler Lulley posted first in the 200 freestyle relay, clocking in with a time of 1:38.21.
Sophomores Spencer Chappell and Jordan Tomimatsu and freshman Megan Foster joined the winning effort. Chappell took first in the 100 yard backstroke, while Tomimatsu took first in the 200 yard backstroke. Foster finished first in the 200 individual medley.
The men’s competition was not as successful for the Rams, but junior Shintaro Noguchi and freshman Steve Sholdra, who both received Atlantic 10 Conference Awards last week, once again had big afternoons as multiple event winners in an otherwise disappointing outing for the team.
Noguchi took first in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:51.74, as well as the 100-yard freestyle, posting his season-best time of 46.22 seconds. Sholdra repeated his familiar dominance in distance freestyle events, as he was victorious in the 1000-yard event in 9:45.05 and the 500-yard in 4:39.63. Sholdra won the 100-yard butterfly in 51.95 seconds.
Sophomore Pat Militti was the only other event winner for the Rams in the loss.
The men were not successful in relays either, they did not not taking a single event. The relay team of senior Thomas Yi, junior Ben Dwyer, Noguchi and senior Devon Morris won the 200 medley with a season-best time of 1:35.91; however, they only took second place.
The Rams have their final regular season meet on Wednesday, Feb. 6 at home in the Messmore Aquatics Center against St. Francis (NY). The men will enter the meet with a record of 4-8, while the women will enter with a record of 9-4. The Rams will compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships on Feb. 20-23 in Geneva, Ohio.
