Swim teams meet up with Fordham

By Mike McDonald
Collegian Editor
January 23, 2008

Saturday’s home Atlantic 10 matchup with the Fordham Rams produced mixed results for the Explorer swim teams. The men came away with a 124-119 win, but the women fell, with a final score of 143-88.

On the men’s side, junior Grant Chin had a big day, winning three different events: the 200-yd IM (1:57.86), the 200-yd butterfly (1:59.35) and the 200-yd breaststroke (2:10.27).

Mike Dao - A group of backstrokers takes off in a La Salle meet from earlier this season.

It wasn’t all Chin, though. Several other Explorers chipped in with strong performances. Junior Stuart Barr won two events of his own, the 50-yd freestyle (21.93) and the 200-yd backstroke (1:58.51).

Senior John Welsh clocked in first in the 100-yd freestyle for another key Explorer victory (48.34).

Fordham made it a real battle, but in the end, Chin and the Explorers were too much for the Rams to handle. La Salle held on and squeaked out the victory, 124-119.

The Explorers went one for two in the relay department. After grabbing an early win in the 400-yd medley relay, the La Salle men were edged out by less than half of a second in the 400-yd freestyle relay.

For the women, junior Carleen Caldwell was the headliner, as she scored wins in both the 50-yd freestyle (24.92) and the 100-yd freestyle (53.79).

Sophomore Dana Reis also added in a win in the 1,000-yd freestyle (10:32.75).

Those were the only individual victories for the women’s team, as Fordham really controlled the action for most of the day.

Fordham’s women took home the win in the 400-yd medley relay, with a 3:59.88. However, the Explorers were able to get a win in the 400-yd freestyle relay, finishing with a time of 3:40.48.

It wasn’t enough, though, and the Rams won it, 143-88.

Fordham controlled the diving competition on both sides, as the Rams were able to win all of the diving events at both the one-meter and three-meter heights.

With the win, the Explorer men improved to 4-4 on the season, while the women dropped to 3-6. Both teams will be back in action this Saturday at home against the Duquesne Dukes. The meet is scheduled to start at noon.

The week after that, the swim teams will travel to University City to take on Drexel for their final head-to-head meet of the season. That will lead up to the A-10 Championships, which will take place in late February.

mcdonaldm2@lasalle.edu