By Dominic Capone

Week one is in the books for the Fordham swimming and diving teams, as they split their season opener at home against the Marist Red Foxes. The women started off on the right foot with a 148-93 win over Marist as the men fell 156-81 to the aforementioned Red Foxes.

The women had strong performances throughout the day, starting with second year swimmer Hannah McGee, who finished with two wins in the 200 individual medley (2:11.80) and the 200 butterfly (2:08.05).
“Even though we were able to win the meet, as a whole there is always room for improvement, McGee said after the win. “As for this point in the season, a lot of the swimmers, including myself, are getting back into the swing of racing and figuring out their exact race plans to prepare for our championship meets.”

Sophomore Caitlin McNary also got in on the action, winning the 200 (1:54.73) and 500 (5:02.62) freestyles to propel the women. She was also a part of a group win in the 400 freestyle relay (3:36.18) with freshmen Kysha Altura, Kiara Norris and junior Samantha McDonald.

“I am looking to improve upon my diversity in different events I can offer the team than those swam last year,” said McNary. “Last year I stuck mostly to sprint events and this year I am looking into the potential of swimming some distance.”

The women also had three other individual winners. Sophomore Michelle Martin came in first in the 50 freestyle (24.06). Senior Tara Brunner won the 100 freestyle in 52.09 seconds while junior Paulina Watson took first in the 200 backstroke (2:06.56).

As for the men, they were not able to pick up any first-place finishes during the event, but rather multiple second-place finishes. A group consisting of sophomore Auston Ramsay, junior Casey Sawyer, senior Travis Monahan and junior Joseph Vizza locked up second-place in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:31.10. Vizza also had second-place finishes in the 100 (47.56) and 200 (1:44.02) freestyle events.

Vizza, who was one of the top performers last year, said despite the loss he is excited for the new year. “I could tell from the first meet against Marist that the men’s team has really good chemistry this year both in and out of the pool,” he said. “We’ve gained a lot of new assets to the team from the freshman and transfer students.”

Speaking of the new guys on the team, freshmen Diego Perez, Conner Wright and Spencer Clarke each had second-place finishes. Perez came in second with a score of 208.73 on the one-meter board, Wright placed second in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:56.06 and Clarke finished second in the 200 IM in 1:57.00.

The swimming and diving team will be home for its next meet against Boston University on Friday Oct. 26 at 6:00 p.m.. The women have a non-scoring event against Brown University at the same time.