University of Massachusets Athletics
Both Men's And Women's Swimming & Diving In First Place After First Night At Atlantic 10 Championships.
 |  Junior Andrea Kazanjian won the A-10 title in the 50 free and was a member of both first place and school-record setting relay teams. |
Feb. 15, 2001
Men's standings after first night: UMass 259, St. Bonaventure 196, La Salle 135, GW 128, Fordham 115, URI 100, Xavier 81, Duquesne 68.
Women's standings after first night: UMass 210, GW 205.5, St. Bonaventure 187, Fordham 131, La Salle 122.5, URI 92, Xavier 78, Duquesne 65.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- After the first of three nights of competition at the 2001 Atlantic 10 Championships, the University of Massachusetts men's and women's swimming and diving teams are currently in first place. The men have 259 points with St. Bonaventure in second with 196, while the women have 210 points with George Washington in second with 205.5.
Junior Ryan Fisher (Santa Barbara, Calif.) won his first A-10 title in the 50 free with a time of 20.58. His preliminary time of 20.29 earlier in the day was good enough for a school and A-10 Championships record. The school record was previously set by Brian McIver in 1989-90 with a time of 20.45.
Senior Chris Arsenault (Peabody, Mass.) won the 200 IM with a school-record time of 1:50.91 for his fourth individual A-10 title. The school record was previously set by Jay Peluso in 1992-93 with a time of 1:51.73. Also in this event, sophomore Justin Houck (Wyomissing, Pa.) placed second (1:51.54) and sophomore Ryan Zaucha (Auburn, Calif.) placed third (1:52.44).
Sophomore Tommy Keane (Melrose, Mass.) won the 500 free with a time of 4:31.24, for his first ever A-10 title. Sophomore Rob Bellamy (Columbia, Md.) placed second with a time of 4:34.78.
The 200 free relay team of Arsenault, senior Mike Sabina (Avon, Mass.), sophomore Chad Arnold (Mohnton, Pa.) and Fisher won the event with a school and pool record time of 1:21.49.
The 400 medley relay team of Houck, senior Billy Brown (Fullerton, Calif.), Arsenault and Fisher placed second with a school record time of 3:22.11. Freshman diver Logan Alomar (Silver Spring, Md.) finished fifth in the one-meter diving event with a score of 416.30.
On the women's side, junior Andrea Kazanjian (Troy, N.Y.) won the 50 free with a time of 24.54 for her first A 10 individual title and only the second ever individual swimming title by a UMass swimmer.
Both relay teams placed first making it the first time UMass has won an A-10 relay title. The 200 free relay team of Kazanjian, sophomore Molly Buckley (Taunton, Mass.), junior Becky Hunnewell (Sandwich, Mass.) and junior Anne Dettloff (Barrington, Ill.) won the event with a school-record time of 1:37.01, while the 400 medley relay team of Hunnewell, freshman Christen Dexter (Centerville, Mass.), Kazanjian and Dettloff won the event with a school record time of 3:54.45.
"The relay teams were very important for us today in setting a tone for the entire event," said head women's coach Bob Newcomb. "The 200 free team came out strong for us and the 400 medley team made a big comeback with Kazanjian and Dettloff swimming strong to come from behind and take the event."
Sophomore diver Kate Allery (South Hadley, Mass.) placed third in the three-meter event with a score of 428.25. "All of the divers were good tonight, especially Allery who was on fire," said Newcomb. "She was phenomenal moving from fifth place to third in three dives."
"We started off slow this morning in the preliminaries, but tonight we woke up and everyone was determined to swim their fastest times of the year," said Newcomb. "Tomorrow we have a lot of our strong events, but we need everyone as a whole to contribute if we are going to keep our lead going into Saturday," said Newcomb.
The event resumes tomorrow and concludes on Saturday. The Minutemen are seeking their fourth A-10 team title, while the Minutewomen are looking for their first ever A-10 team title.