Both Fordham swim teams put in strong showings against Boston University.
(Photo by Michael Rezin/The Ram)
After starting the season with a combined record of 3-1, both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were beaten at Boston University on Saturday, Nov. 2. The men’s team fell 178-117, while the women’s team was bested 177-121.
“BU (Boston University) will challenge our team more than Fairfield and Marist,” senior co-captain Shannon Jones said prior to the meet.
The Terriers certainly did challenge the Rams and were led to victory by the individual performances of Mario Caballero and Kendra Cheng. Each won three events on Saturday.
Of the 32 events swam in Boston, Mass., Fordham only won eight events.
Steve Sholdra and Shintaro Noguchi were the lone winners for the men’s team, each capturing two events. Sholdra touched the wall first in both distance events, taking the 500-yard and 1000-yard freestyle. Noguchi won the 100-yard freestyle in 46.51 and the 100-yard butterfly in 49.94. The Tiburon, Calif. native was also second in the 200-yard freestyle.
Fresh off her Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honor, freshman Megan Polaha was the only competitor on the women’s team to win multiple events. Polaha was victorious in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly. She was also second in the 200-yard individual medley.
Junior Kelly Carroll was quickest in the 100-yard breaststroke and sophomore Anna Marshall completed the sweep of the breaststroke events by taking home the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:26.23.
Although beaten, the Rams believed that they performed very well.
“The entire team brought positive energy, swam faster than the last two meets and was very supportive the entire time,” senior co-captain Kara Field said. “We swam fast and dove well, but they performed better than us.”
Nicholas Belfanti, a senior co-captain, shared Field’s sentiments. “I would not consider the loss to BU a setback,” Belfanti said. “At this point in the season we’re looking to swim solid races in terms of strategy and pacing without as much focus on time. From speaking with people after their races, I think we accomplished this goal.”
Additionally, the scores of the meet would have been much closer had the Rams not been out-touched for first place by less than a second in seven events.
Notably, Steve Sholdra was beaten by Mun Hon Lee in the 200-yard butterfly by .09 seconds. Sholdra finished in 1:51.55, while Lee touched in 1:51.46.
Freshman Kalena Laurent and junior Spencer Chappell also took second place in two events. Laurent was second best in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle. Chappell was the runner up in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke.
The team will be off from competition this week and will next be in action at the Princeton Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15 and 16.
“Having a week off of competition is going to be nice,” Field said. “Practices are definitely going to be tough, but the hard training will get us in that much better shape for the Princeton Invitational.”
“When we swim against Princeton, which is another strong team, we must stay confident throughout the meet and make sure we are staying focused on our own races,” Noguchi said. “If we start worrying about the opponent’s races, we (will) lose sight on what is important.”
The men’s team is currently 1-2, while the women’s squad sits at 2-1.
