Broncs claim final win before MAACs

By Kristie Kahl

Rider’s swimming and diving teams overtook Lafayette in their final dual meet of the season before entering their first postseason meets.

The men’s team defeated the Leopards 167-107, while the women won 155-145.

“Overall I think we had a great season so far this year,” junior swimmer Priscilla Modrov said. “We had a lot of tough dual meets against some strong teams, and it has helped to prepare us for the pressure of the MAAC Championships in a few weeks.”

For the women, Modrov won the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly and the 400 IM. Also for the women’s team, senior Rebecca Sanbower won both the 500 and 1,650 free, while sophomore Kellyanne Tomasula won both the 100 and 200 back. Freshman Brianna Burns won the 200 free and junior diver Amanda Burke won the three-meter and one-meter.

The women’s 200 medley relay of Tomasula, freshman Carmen Menendez, Modrov and Burns also clinched a win with a time of 1:50.01.

“Lafayette is consistently at the top of the Patriot league, especially on the women’s side,” Head Coach Steve Fletcher said to Rider Sports Information. “For us to experience a close meet was important as we head into MAACs next month. The meet went back and forth and every event mattered, like it will at championships, so it was a valuable meet for both teams but more so for the women’s team.”

As for the men’s team, senior diver and tri-captain Dylan Korn won the one-meter, while senior tri-captain Peter Starr won the 100 back. Junior Josh Rosenbluth won the 200 back and sophomore Alex Grubbs won the 100 breast to add to the Broncs’ win.

The freshmen for the men’s team pulled away with wins from Arthur Arciszewski in the 1,650 free, Dave Farfan in the 200 butterfly, Drew Modrov in the 50 free, Mike Tubb in the 200 breast and C.J. Kohner in the 500 free.
Also for the Broncs, the men’s 200 medley relay of Starr, senior tri-captain Matt Bauer, Rosenbluth and sophomore Scott Player won with a time of 1:37.30.

“It was good for the men’s team to have some of the swimmers compete in different events,” Fletcher said to Rider Sports Information. “It changes their focus a little and gives them a chance to try something different while still competing in a live event. Swimming a single set of events for a whole season, you can lose your focus a little bit so changing things up will get everyone refocused as we head into championships.”

The men and women came out on top in both MAAC meets against Loyola and Marist in the regular season. Rider will face off against both teams yet again for the MAAC Championships on Feb. 14-16 at Loyola.
Priscilla Modrov hopes the team is able to carry its success into the postseason.

“Knowing we were successful against both of our MAAC rivals in dual meets, I think our team should have confidence going into MAACs,” she said.