Metropolitan Conference Championships: TCNJ Rules

PISCATAWAY, New Jersey, February 25. THE College of New Jersey's men's and women's swimming and diving teams wrapped up action on Sunday night at the 2008 Metropolitan Conference Championships at Rutgers University's Sonny A. Werblin Recreation Center.

TCNJ's men's team posted 1,500 points to repeat as Met Champions with a stand in 1st place in a field of 14 teams, while the Lion women amassed 1,300.5 points to finish in first in the standings in the 16-team field. Overall on the meet, TCNJ's men's and women's teams established school records in at least 12 different events, while producing numerous NCAA automatic and provisional qualifying times.

TCNJ's men's and women's teams produced the Met Rookies of the Year in Tom Medvecky (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) and Margaret Molloy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North), while head women's coach Jen Harnett was named Met Women's Coach of the Year and Brian Bishop, head men's coach was named Met Men's Coach of the Year.

For the men, freshman Tim Rauch (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) picked up second in the 1,650 freestyle in 16:35.97, while junior Mike Molloy (Toms River, N/Toms River East) added a third in 16:38.81 and rookie Pete Goldsmith (Easton, PA/Easton Area) took home fourth in 16:55.10.

In the 200 backstroke, junior Mike Heaney (Voorhees, NJ/Bishop Eustace) took third place after posting an NCAA provisional time of 1:54.30 in the trials. He bettered his time in the finals with a 1:53.87. Also competing in the race for the Lions was senior Liam Gallagher (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) as he picked up fourth in 1:53.89, a provisional mark, while rookie Joe Tseng (East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) added a time of 1:59.69 to place sixth.

In the 100 freestyle competition, junior Thomas Nawrot (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) added a first place finish in 46.00 an NCAA provisional time, while senior Josh Forsman (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) added the second fastest time in the trials and took home third place in the finals with his time of 46.42, an NCAA provisional time. Freshman Shawn Kircher (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) picked up fifth in 46.86.

In the 200 breaststroke, the Lions had three competitors move into the finals as sophomore Myles O'Connor (Santa Monica, CA) picked up third in 2:06.82 an NCAA provisional time, while sophomore Eric Rohrs (Congers, NY/Clarkstown High North) picked up fourth in 2:14.80. Junior Ted Yoa (Ocean City, NJ/St. Augustine) took home sixth in 2:15.23.

In the 200 butterfly, rookie Tom Medvecky (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) led the Lions in the after posting the fastest trial time of the day (1:52.41) bettering TCNJ's school record that had been set by Davy Bisslik in 2004 (1:43.28). In the finals he finished in first to break his own mark from earlier in the day as he posted a time of 1:52.31, an NCAA provisional time. Senior RT Greeby (Hainesport, NJ/Rancocas Valley) also competed in the event and picked up an eighth place showing in 1:59.38.

In the men's three meter diving competition, TCNJ's junior Greg Lloyd (Ringoes, NJ/Hunterdon Central) picked up third place with his score of 427.71.

In the 400 freestyle relay, TCNJ had the fastest trial time (3:14.89) and went on to claim first place bettering the Met record, as well as TCNJ's school record with an automatic NCAA qualifying time of 3:03.54. Teaming on the winning relay for the Lions were Nawrot, Gallagher, Forsman and Kircher.

For the women in the 200 backstroke, senior Christine Marino (Scotch Plains, NJ/Mt. St. Mary Academy) added a fourth place showing in 2:12.71 for the Lions after adding an eighth place finish in the 100 backstroke as well.

TCNJ's senior Ava Kiss (North Brunswick, NJ/Stuart Country Day) posted a second place finish in the finals with her time of 51.70 in the 100 freestyle and broke the Lions' school record in the race that Aubrey Horvath set in 2004 (52.00). In the trials, she posted an NCAA provisional time of 53.12. Senior Lauren Pfeifer (Freehold, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) also competed in the event and added a time of 54.30 to take fifth place.

Competing in the 200 breaststroke, TCNJ's rookie Katie Morgan (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) posted a time of 2:27.40 in the trials and was seeded second. In the finals, she settled for fifth place with a time of 2:27.24, establishing the school mark in the event as she bettered the record set in 2007 by Emily Reichard.

In the 400 freestyle relay, TCNJ was seeded third after the trials and would post an NCAA provisional time of 3:34.58 and pick up a second place finish in the finals after recording a time of behind the efforts of Molloy, sophomore Stephanie Seto (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert), Pfeifer and Kiss.

In the 200 butterfly, senior Stefanie Rashti (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West) added a fifth place finish in 2:15.92, while freshman Kristen Prentice (Skillman, NJ/Montgomery) finished in seventh place in 2:18.46.

Rookie Margaret Molloy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) picked up second in the 1,650 freestyle in 17:38.83, an NCAA provisional time, while she also once again broke her own school record in the event. Earlier this year she posted a time of 17:56.58 to set the new standard in the event. Joining Molloy in the top ten place finishers in the race was Prentice as she took sixth in 18:28.68.

In the one meter diving event, freshman Amanda Obst (Cape May, NJ/Lower Cape May Regional) posted a second place finish with her score of 344.78, while sophomore Jessica Lynch (Thorofare, NJ/West Deptford) took home eighth place after posting a score of 212.57.

Special thanks to TCNJ for contributing this report.

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