NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona College men’s and women’s swimming and diving team closed out the second half of its weekend trip to New England with a men’s victory and a women’s loss in non-conference action at the Big East’s Providence College.
Swimming head-to-head for the first time in the program’s history against the Friars, The men’s team dominated 132-73, winning 10 of a possible 13 events. The women slipped behind early with four second loss in the meet’s opening event, the 400-meter medley relay and never recovered. The Friars peeled off six wins in row before junior Natalie Bowman took the 100-meter freestyle. The final score was 130-75 in favor of the home team.
The meet – contested in short course meters – saw junior Collin Purrman take the 800-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley; sophomore Christian Foti win the 200- and 400-meter freestyles; senior Tommy Keefe take the 50-meter free; junior Dylan Mechanic win the 200-meter butterfly; junior Matthew Rothman win the 100-meter freestyle and sophomore Chris Vadala win the 200-meter breaststroke. Senior MaryEllen Mangione was the other individual winner for the Women, taking the 200-meter breaststroke.
The Gaels compete in at a short course 25-meter distance about once a year and saw five school records set in Saturday’s meet. Purrman lowered the 800-meter freestyle record from 8:50.83, set in 2010 by Joseph De Leone to 8:47.31. Rothman broke the 100-free mark of 53.91 set by David Gartman in 2010 with his 53.61 winning time.
The other three records came in relay events. The 200-meter freestyle relay team of freshman Jessica Schmidt, junior Natalie Bowman, senior Melissa Dorsch and junior Katie Nevin lowered the 2014 time of 1:52.16 to 1:51.14. The men’s 200-meter version lowered the 2014 time of 1:39.24 to 1:38.45 as Rothman, sophomore Zack Holbrook, Foti and Keefe combined.
The final mark came in the Men’s 400-meter medley relay where sophomore David Ciavarelli, Vadala, freshman Jude Zamora and Rothman posted a 4:05.73, lowering the 2012 standard of 4:12.58.
“To come away from this weekend trip with three wins and a lot of strong and positive efforts, really sets up nicely for the next part of our season and some great racing,” commented Coach Nick Cavataro.
