*Updated to include relays and 'B' Final Times*
College Swimming and Diving
Rider at Princeton's Big Al Open - Day One
Bronc Men 4th / Women 6th
PRINCETON--The Rider University men's and women's swimming and diving teams are competing at the Big Al Open, hosted by Princeton University this weekend and after day one, the Rider men are fourth and the Bronc women are in sixth place.
On Friday for Rider men, junior Johnny Funk (Las Vegas, Nev./Southeast Career & Tech. Academy) was third in the finals of the 200 IM (1:51.26) with junior Brian Molloy (Toms River/Toms River HS East) finishing fourth in the finals of the 500 free (4:35.67).
"Our teams are recording season and lifetime bests in nearly every swim," said head coach Steve Fletcher. "This meet is the perfect combination of fast competition in a great facility at the right time of year for our athletes physiologically."
In the 'B' finals (9-16 based on the preliminaries Friday morning), junior Addie Oswald (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley) was 11th in the 500 free (4:58.74), junior Kelly O'Connor (Beverly, Mass./Beverly) placed 11th in the 200 IM (2:07.32), freshman Taylor Byerly (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) finished 15th in the 50 free (24.21) and freshman Gess Charniga (Kendall Park/South Brunswick) was 16th in the 50 free (24.53).
"Our freshman class is really starting to flex their muscle and show their true potential," Fletcher said. "Each week they get faster and race smarter."
Also for the Bronc men, freshman Drew Peterson (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City) was ninth in the 200 IM 'B' finals (1:53.53), junior Julien Hensen (Delafield, Wis./Kettle Moraine) placed 11th in the 200 IM preliminaries (1:55.97) and sophomore diver Trevor Hiller (Galloway Twp./Absegami) was 13th on the one-meter board (220.80).
The men's 200 free relay of Molloy, freshman Brett Pedersen (Sewell/St. Augustine Prep), Peterson and Hensen was fifth with a time of 1:25.25.
The men's 400 medley relay of Funk, Hensen, freshman Zach DeLillo (Reading, Pa./Wilson) and Peterson placed fifth with a time of 3:26.97.
The women's 200 free relay of Byerly, Charniga, sophomore Danielle Warwick (Catonsville, Md. /Mount de Sales Academy) and junior Katlyn Andrews (Lawrenceville/Notre Dame) was sixth with a time of 1:37.25.
Schools competing include Brown (M/W), Columbia (M), Fordham (M/W), James Madison (W), Princeton (M/W), Rider (M/W), Rutgers (W) and Villanova (M/W).
Competition continues Saturday and Sunday at DeNunzio Pool.
"Each year we attend the Princeton meet, we remind our teams of the challenge they have to compete up to the legacy of performance established by our alumni on this same weekend," Fletcher added. "Former swimmers have set school records at this meet in the past and our current teams always take pride in representing Rider at this level of competition in the same way."
-RU-
