Athens -The Wheeling Jesuit Men’s swimming team captured the 2011 Appalachian Swimming Conference Title Saturday night at the Ohio University Aquatics Complex in Athens, OH. The Jesuit women were Runner-up to Asbury University.
Head coach Rick West was named Men’s Coach of the Year and Sophomore Emily Martin was named Women’s Swimmer of the Year repeating the honors they earned in 2010. Freshman standout Henrique Fructuozo was named Men’s Swimmer of the Year.
At the championship meet, the Jesuit men, with a team of Junior Max Queale, sophomore Patrick Chadowski, junior Tom Smith and freshman Kyle Rhodes placed third in the 200 Freestyle relay in a time of 1:26.58.
Chadowski placed second in the 200 Individual Medley with a national B-Cut time of 1:55.79 and second in the 200 Butterfly with a second B-cut of 1:55.04. Freshman Evan Walker touched behind Chadowksi in the fly placing third with a time of 1:58.72.
National B-Cut times are provisional cut times for the National Division II Championship meet.
Last year’s conference swimmer of the year Emily Martin scored three conference wins and national B-cut times touching first in the 500 Freestyle in a 5:15.07, the 200 Butterfly in 2:10..24 as well as winning the 200 Freestyle in 1:56.56. Freshman Brianna Sieck gave Martin a run to the finish touching second in the 200 Free in 1:57.89.
Freshman standout Henrique Fructuozo made his mark on the conference record board setting new marks in the 500 Freestyle and the 1650 Freestyle with a winning times of 4:38.76 and 16:08.72 respectively. Both times were national B-cuts.. Fructuozo’s split at the 1000 Freestyle mark of the mile was also a B-cut time. Walker placed 3rd in the 500 and landed on the medal stand with a time of 4:44.42.
Fructuozo and Chadowski placed first and second in the 400 Individual Medley with times of 4:04.42 and 4:11.71.
Making her own splash at this year’s meet was freshman Lydia Kidd. Kidd and teammate, freshman Meghan Ebbert went one-two in the 100 Breaststroke. Kidd topped the field with a time of 1:07.28. Kidd’s preliminary swim of 1:06.89 was a WJU school record, a national B-cut time and a new conference record. Kidd also placed 3rd in the 400 Individual Medley touching in 4:47.25.
Kidd and teammate Junior Michael Viscardi owned the 200 Breaststroke events both topping the medal stand. Kidd’s performance in the women’s event was 2:26.25 while Viscardi’s was 2:07.73 for the men’s. Viscardi also placed runner-up in the men’s 100 Breaststroke in a time of 59.08.
Jesuit proved dominant in the 800 Freestyle Relays with the Cardinal Women’s team of Martin, Kidd, sophomore Casey Hamilton and Sieck. placing second in a school record time of 7:58.23. The Jesuit men, a team of Chadowski, sophomore Tom Smith, Fructuozo, and freshman Jesse Kubanet won the title handily, smashing the existing conference record by seven seconds in a time of 7:01.46.
The Cardinal women, with a team of freshman Paige Carpenetti, Kidd, Martin, and Sieck also placed second in the 400 Medley relay in a school record time of 4:01.70. The same relay placed second in the 200 Medley Relay in 1:51.51. The Jesuit men’s 400 Medley Relay with Junior Evan Barrow, Viscardi, Chadowski and Junior Max Queale made it to the medal podium placing third in a time of 3:33.60. The Cardinal Men’s 200 Medley Relay of Barrow, Kubanet, freshman Kyle Rhodes, and Queale placed 3rd in 1:37.13.
The final event of the meet was the 400 Freestyle Relay where Jesuit placed third for the women with Sieck, Hamilton, Kidd and Martin touching in 3:41.02. The Cardinal Men also touched in the third spot with Smith, Queale, Chadowski and Kubanet stopping the clock at 3:11.29.
West said that he is thrilled with the performance and it truly was a team effort.
“Nearly every member of the team scored at the meet,” West said. “It is that kind of depth that allows you to win big events like this one. Individual performance is always important, but it is the collective effort of the team that wins championships.”
West credited his assistant coaches Sarah Bell and Nicki Stanley and moderator Father Harry Geib with a part of the Coach of the Year honors.
“They only give one trophy for Coach of the Year,” he said. “But without the help of my assistants, our moderator, and our team managers, I couldn’t do any of this.”
“This honor gets split many ways,” West said.
West also credited the University and the support of the Jesuit parents organization for the win.
The Cardinals will be honored by a reception and banquet celebrating the season later this spring.
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