Fordham Coach, Steve Potsklan (second from left), staff and athletes pose with the A10 Championship plaque in Buffalo, NY on February 20th 2010
Buffalo, N.Y. - When the Atlantic 10 preseason poll for women's swimming & diving came out back on October 15th, the pressure was on Fordham all season long as they were picked first by the Atlantic 10 coaches. Saturday in Buffalo, the team finished off their dream season of high expectations with their first ever Atlantic 10 Championship. It is the first postseason A-10 Championship title for any women's sport at Fordham.
Fordham and Richmond had separated themselves from the other eight competing teams over the last three days of competition, but it was the Rams finishing with 676 points to take home the crown. The Spiders took second with 596 points, followed by Massachusetts (428), Duquesne (413), La Salle (382.5), St. Bonaventure (293), Rhode Island (255), Xavier (236), Saint Louis (198), and George Washington (159.5).
The night of finals started in the 1650 freestyle, where the Rams had two scorers, highlighted by Megan McGorry placing second overall in a school record time of 16:58.64, breaking the old mark by close to ten seconds. Giulia Kaftan also scored in the event, placing 16th in 17:52.94.
Up next was the 200 backstroke, where Brienne Ryan earned All-Atlantic 10 honors for the fifth time during this championship, as she placed second in a time of 1:59.56. Earlier in the preliminaries, she broke the school record in the event in an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:58.42. Christina Cosentino also made her way into the "A" final, as she placed fifth in 2:02.63.
Despite the strong start in the first two events, Fordham found their lead dwindling as Richmond tied the Rams with 536 points following the 100 freestyle event. In that event however, Fordham still had a great showing with three swimmers in the "A" final and one in the "B". Tressa Dunn led the charge as she placed second in the "A" final in a school record time of 51.04 seconds, followed by Kelly Bunster in seventh (52.03) and Alexandra Alessi in eighth (52.53). Rounding out the finals, Kellie Lyver was fourth in the "B" final (12th overall) in 52.42 seconds.
Fordham then regained the lead thanks to Nicole Marshall, who placed second in the 200 breaststroke in a school record time of 2:18.33, breaking her old mark of 2:19.25, set last year.
Fordham's Katelynn Gray swimming towards a strong finish.
Leading by nine points, Fordham entered their strongest event with four finalists in the 200 butterfly. The "B" final saw Kim Bouton win the heat in a time of 2:08.78, while Katelynn Gray, from Stamford, was third in 2:09.27.
In the "A" final, Fordham pulled off their second one-two finish of the championship, as Courtney Collyer defended her title in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:01.52, followed by Caitlin Napoli in second place in 2:02.17.
With the two heat wins, Fordham took a 48-point lead into the final two events: the three-meter dive and 400 freestyle relay.
In the three-meter dive, all three Ram divers, Andrea Krok, Elizabeth Dorger, and Brittany Salas made the finals of the event. Krok would finish fourth with a score of 238.15, followed by Dorger in seventh (213.60) and Salas in eighth (211.40).
The final event was the 400 freestyle relay, which Dunn, Bunster, Ryan, and Napoli finished off in style, placing second in a school record and NCAA"B" cut time of 3:23.72, securing Fordham's first Atlantic 10 title in a women's sport.
In all, eight Fordham female athletes earned All-Atlantic 10 honors finishing in either first or second place in their respective events, while breaking 14 school records and one Atlantic 10 record. Fordham also posted a total of six NCAA "B" cut qualifiers. In addition to the team, head coach Steve Potsklan was named Atlantic 10 Women's Swimming Coach of the Year for the second straight year.
