Swim and dive finish year strong

By Victoria Lyons
The men’s and women’s swim and dive teams competed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships this past weekend at the University of Pittsburgh, where the women finished third out of 24 teams and the men placed third out of 21 teams.
The teams had much to be proud of this past weekend, according to senior diver Amanda Burke.
“I think we did pretty good considering we just got back from our conference championship,” Burke said. “So considering all of the obstacles, we did well.”
Burke was named Diver of the Meet for the second time in her career. On day one of the ECACs, Burke came in first in the one-meter, scoring a Pittsburgh Pool record of 321.30, while on day two, she managed to clinch first place in the three-meter with a score of 381.70, a Trees Pool record.
“I dove out of my mind on the 3-meter and got my highest score ever on it so I was really excited,” Burke said. “Getting the pool records was a great end to my collegiate diving career.”
Senior Kellyanne Tomasula finished second in the 100 back in 56.124 on day two while clinching first place in the 200 back on day three, breaking a Rider record with a time of 1:59.60. Junior Brianna Burns placed third in the 200 free 1:53.01 on day two and third in the 100 free with a time of 51.95 this past Sunday.
Also on day three, freshman Melissa Berkay came in third in the 200 fly 2:03.86, while the women’s 400 free relay finished third with a time of 3:29.55. The relay team consisted of freshman Addie Oswald, Burns, junior Alicia Fimple and Tomasula.
On day one, the Rider men had many feats. Sophomore Brendan Cavallaro placed second in the three-meter dive with a score of 294.15, freshman Johnny Funk claimed third in the 200 Individual Medley (IM) in 1:52.25, and senior diver Paul Apostolakis scored 267.70 in the three-meter dive, earning third place.
“This meet was the first meet that we had our entire diving team here and it means a lot to have a full team qualify,” Burke said. “It’s a good accomplishment because the goal is to have the most people qualify for the meet, and we did.”
As for day two, Funk came in third in the 400 IM, earning a time of 4:01.99, and freshman Brian Molloy clinched fourth in the 200 free with a time of 1:41.71. The 800 free relay team consisting of senior Brian Brady, Funk, junior Ryan Nelthropp and Molloy claimed third and set a Rider record of 6:49.90.
Apostolakis placed second in the one-meter dive with a score of 298.60, while Molloy claimed third in the 1,650 free with a time of 15:59.51 on day three.
Also on day three, freshman Julien Hensen finished third in the 200 breast in 2:05.19 and Cavallaro placed third in the one-meter dive with a score of 266.35. The men’s relay team made up of senior Scott Player, Funk, Molloy and Brady claimed fourth in the 400 free relay, earning a time of 3:05.38.
For Burke, the ECACs was a great tune up and practice for the upcoming NCAA Division I Zone A Diving competition.
“The meet is giving me a lot of confidence going into zones and hopefully NCAAs,”  Burke said.
Next up, Burke, Apostolakis and Cavallaro compete at the NCAA Division I Zone A Diving meet at Rutgers University from March 12 to 14.