Marist vs. Rider

LAWRENCEVILLE, New Jersey, November 3. BOTH the Rider University men's and women's swimming and diving teams defeated Marist College in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference meet at Coppola pool on the Lawrenceville campus. "You don't want to get too ahead of yourself but beating Marist is a big confidence boost for the team," said head coach Steve Fletcher. "It will certainly give us some excitement as we work through the hard days of training ahead."

Marist is the defending conference champion for both the men and women.

For the Rider women, freshman Brianna Burns (Chestnut Ridge, N.Y./Spring Valley) won the 200 free (1:55.58), 50 free (25.09) and 100 free (54.03) with junior Priscilla Modrov (Smithtown, N.Y./Hauppauge) winning the 200 butterfly (2:05.82), 200 breaststroke (2:28.68) and 200 IM (2:08.20.

For the Rider men, junior Josh Rosenbluth (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence) won the 100 back (51.89), 200 back (1:56.05) and the 200 IM (1:57.48) with sophomore Scott Player (Chino Hills, Calif./Ruben S. Ayala) winning the 100 free (48.43) and 100 butterfly (51.86).

"The energy that the team had was a contributing factor in the performance today," Fletcher added. "The attitude and effort during a meet is something that we always focus on and the team was very supportive of each other and it showed in the results."

Also for the women's team, junior diver Amanda Burke (Churchville, Pa./William Tennent) won the one-meter (254.10) and three-meter (289.95) with sophomore Kellyanne Tomasula (Sussex, N.J./Vernon Township) winning the 100 back (57.87).

Also for the Rider men, senior diver Dylan Korn (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) won the one-meter (275.40) and three-meter (277.13) with freshman Drew Modrov (Smithtown, N.Y./Hauppauge) winning the 50 free (21.54).

"We had swimmers picking up important points for the team by competing in events that they normally don't swim and that made us deeper today," said Fletcher. "Marist is a strong team and that is the only way you have a shot at competing with any opponent is to sacrifice some individual efforts for the team goal of picking up the win. It is a credit to the athletes being flexible and versatile."

The women's 200 medley of Tomasula, freshman Carmen Menendez (Fairfax, Va./Oakton), Modrov and senior Stephanie Cosentino (Staten Island, N.Y./Notre Dame Academy) won the 200 medley relay (1:49.41) with the 400 free relay of Burns, senior Rebecca Sanbower (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Twp.), freshman Renata Stoehr (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks West) and freshman Raquel Riestra (Plainsboro, N.J./W. Windsor-Plainsboro North) winning with a time of 3:44.95.

"The seniors contributed a lot today with their attitude and performance," Fletcher said. "They are helping the rest of the team believe that they can be better everyday. It is critical when you expect the team to continue the tradition of a positive team culture to have strong senior leadership and we have that with all of our upperclassmen. Winning is a result of the tradition that we have established. Attention to detail everyday is important."

The men's 200 medley relay of Rosenbluth, senior Matt Bauer (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn), Player and Modrov won with a time of 1:36.29.

The men's team is now 5-12 all-time against the Red Foxes having last defeated Marist during the 2005-06 season. The women's team is now 7-10 all-time against the Red Foxes having defeated Marist for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

Rider travels to Lehigh to face the Mountain Hawks and the Penn Quakers in a tri-meet on November 10.

"I am asking the team to keep the attention to detail in practice and work with each other to focus on technical details. We are using the next two meets to sharpen for the Princeton Invitational. Swimming up against Lehigh from the Patriot League and Penn from the Ivy League as well as La Salle and Delaware is going to challenge the team to maintain being competitive while keeping their confidence. It is going to be hard but I think the team is up to the challenges of the schedule and that will only make us stronger going into the conference championships in February."

"The positive culture that we had today is something that you have to work on everyday in practice," Fletcher said. "Not just when you have something rewarding happen but also on the hard days, the teamwork and support of each other is what will get you through."

Special thanks to Rider for contributing this report.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use