Swimmers Take 3rd, 4th

On Saturday, Oct. 24, the Providence College Swimming and Diving Team traveled to UConn to compete in the Husky Invitational in Storrs, Conn. The men's side placed third out of five teams with 275.5 points on the day, while the women's squad finished in fourth out of five teams with a score of 197. The men's meet was eventually won by Fordham University (714) while host UConn took home the hardware on the women's side. (826). On the men's side, the Friars were led by veteran senior swimmer Mathew Card who placed eighth in the 200-meter freestyle (1:49.55), seventh in the 100-meter freestyle (48.59), and fifth in the 50-meter freestyle (22.24). Card's time of 22.24 in the 50-meter freestyle qualifies him for the event at the Big East Championships. Individually, Card earned 37 points for the Friars and helped to earn 30 more points in the 200-meter freestyle relay as he teamed up with fellow seniors Mike Loftis and Owen Hughes and sophomore Matt Green in a fourth place finish (1:29.95). The Friars also had a strong performance from freshman Eric Burtchell, who finished second behind Fordham senior Lucien Monson in the 1000-meter freestyle with a time of 10:20:16. "Obviously our number-one priority was to win the meet," Card said. "But you have to take the good with the bad. We had some great individual performances from a lot of our guys. Now we have to translate those individual [successes] to team wins." On the women's side, junior Courtney Larcom had a good showing for the Friars as she placed eighth (5:28.79) in the 500-meter freestyle, pacing fellow junior Alexis Fatigati and freshman Eileen Colliton who finished in ninth (5:30.89) and tenth (5:32.64), respectively. Freshman Kelly Lamoreaux placed fifth in the 200-meter backstroke in a time of 2:38.17. The fifth place finish by Lamoreaux marked the highest finish among the Friar women in the individual events on the day. "The group meets are always tough because there's just so much competition," Larcom said. "We feel that we can compete with anyone in the pool and although we didn't get the win, we showed that we are a team to be reckoned with. I think I speak for all my teammates when I say we're looking forward to coming back home and capturing that first win." Indeed, the Friars hope to bounce back and earn their first head-to-head win of the season as they host Fairfield University on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 11:00 a.m., in the Taylor Natatorium. The Stags will be a tough challenge for the young Friars but Head Coach John O'Neill is confident his team will have a good showing at home. "This is an important meet," O'Neill said. "A win at home would really boost our confidence and get our program to where it should be right now. The season so far has consisted mainly of individual achievements, and while this is great for some of our swimmers [and divers], I always stress the importance of team success and opportunity, one meet at a time. The opportunity is there for us Saturday, we just have to capture it."