2005-06 season preview

October 28, 2005

NORTON, MA- For each of the past three seasons, the Wheaton College men's and women's swimming and diving squads have improved upon their previous year's finish at the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship. Each team's experienced veterans are joined this winter by talented freshmen, but third-year head coach Jean-Paul Gowdy would rather concentrate on his athletes and let the cards fall where they may come conference championship time.

"I prefer to focus on the process of getting the swimmers to where they're going to swim really fast at the NEWMAC Championship," Gowdy said. "The way to move up in the NEWMAC is to focus on practice and dual meets, and if we do a good job of that, good things are going to happen."

First-year assistant coach Beth DeLaRosby joins Gowdy on the Wheaton staff. DeLaRosby was a five-time All-American at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota, where she earned an All-America honorable mention nine times and all-conference laurels on 23 occasions.

Wheaton's men went 8-4 in dual meets a year ago, and the team returns only one senior and four juniors to a youthful but talented roster. Lone senior John Kuckens (West Hartford, CT/Hall) and junior All-American Barrett Roberts (Portland, ME/Deering) will captain the 2005-06 men's squad.

Roberts became Wheaton's first All-America swimmer last winter when he tied for fifth in the 50-yard freestyle and also competed in the 100- and 200-yard free events at the NCAA Championship. A two-time All-NEWMAC swimmer, Roberts won the 50-yard free, placed second in the 100-yard free and finished 10th in the 200-yard free at last year's conference championship, breaking the school record in each event. He also pushed four relay teams to top-four finishes and school marks.

Swimmers Zach Hicks (Bath, ME/Morse) and Matt Hurley (Belfast, ME/Belfast Area) and diver Matt Pescosolido (East Greenwich, RI/East Greenwich) round out the junior class. A year ago, Hurley set three individual school marks at the NEWMAC meet while helping four relay teams break records and place in the top four.

The sophomore class includes Joe Fowler (Farmington, ME/Mount Blue), Matt Jordan (Ellsworth, ME/Ellsworth), Ryan Patch (Lexington, MA/Lexington) and Yunuscan Tokcan (Providence, RI/Northfield Mount Hermon School).

Last year, Jordan missed qualifying for the NCAA Championship in the 100-yard backstroke by only 0.6 seconds, and he broke a pair of individual Wheaton records while turning in a trio of top-10 finishes at the NEWMAC meet. Jordan also swam on four record-breaking relay teams, and Fowler set three school standards.

Six freshmen join the team for 2005-06. Zach LeClair (Needham, MA/Needham), Jake Maher (Newtown, CT/Newtown), Matt Pinkston (Houston, TX/Episcopal), Chris Romilly (Washington, DC/Saint Albans) and T.J. Sponzo (Simsbury, CT/Avon Old Farms) will swim for the Lyons, while Ben Marlowe (Santa Fe, NM/Saint Michael's) is the squad's lone incoming diver.

Much like the men's team, Wheaton's women have consistently improved at the NEWMAC Championship, peaking with a fourth-place finish in 2004-05. The Lyons went 10-4 in dual meets last season and begin 2005-06 with a balanced roster of veterans and freshmen.

Seniors Courtney Catalano (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) and Ashley Jankowski (Lincoln, RI/Lincoln) will captain Wheaton this winter. Catalano was a member of last year's school record-setting 200-yard freestyle relay team.

The remaining members of the Class of 2006 are Maura Huntington (Marshfield, MA/Marshfield), Christiana Kuipers (Andover, MA/Andover) and Lauren Pcholinski (Old Saybrook, CT/Old Saybrook).

Dotting the roster are five juniors, including Kelly Allinson (Portsmouth, NH/Portsmouth), Kristen Behrens (Uxbridge, MA/Uxbridge), Cassie Bohn (Manhattan Beach, CA/Mira Costa), Katie McNicholas (Acton, MA/Acton-Boxboro Regional) and Colleen Smith (Milford, CT/Lauralton Hall).

Bohn recorded three top-10 finishes at the conference championship last season and helped a pair of relay teams to third-place placements and school records. McNicholas set a Wheaton standard in the 400-yard individual medley during her fourth-place performance at the NEWMAC Championship. Smith was a NEWMAC All-Conference honoree after breaking a school mark in the 200-yard butterfly during her second-place finish at last year's NEWMAC meet, and she ended up fifth in the 100-yard fly.

Meg Miller (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) and Abby Pratt (Melrose, MA/Melrose) headline the sophomore class. Pratt earned all-conference accolades last year after a trio of top-three individual finishes at the NEWMAC meet and helping four relay teams to top-five placements. Miller recorded three top-10 finishes at last year's championships and helped four relay teams garner top-five status.

Four athletes complete the sophomore class, including Elizabeth Slavin (Niskayuna, NY/Hyde School), Wheaton's lone returning diver. Classmates Melinda Labranche (Dorchester, MA/John D. O'Bryant School) and Diane Seltzer (Natick, MA/Natick) also provide veteran experience to the Lyons, and Tori Hay (Danville, CA/Monte Vista) joins the squad after competing on Wheaton's synchronized swimming team last winter.

The freshman class is comprised of six athletes, including diver Kristen Reber (Ledyard, CT/Ledyard). The five swimmers are Katie Burbank (Mill Valley, CA/Marin Catholic), Mandy Cumings (Zionsville, IN/Zionsville Community), Caitlin Glover (Durham, NH/Berwick Academy), Kelly Grant (South Salem, NY/John Jay) and Casey Shanley (Rumson, NJ/Suffield Academy).

Wheaton has scheduled 16 opponents for dual meets this winter and begins the season by facing Gordon College and Roger Williams University on November 4 at Balfour Natatorium. On November 5, the Lyons host the Charlie Batterman Relays, the first of three regular season invitationals in which Wheaton will participate. The NEWMAC Championship on the women's side is set for February 17-19 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while the men are slated to host the conference meet on February 24-26. Wheaton last hosted the men's championship in March of 2002.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 2/21/07.
Questions about this page? Use our query form.

News Headlines

Weekly Lyon Update: Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving (more)

Piscetta, Zais push Wheaton past Brandeis and WPI (more)

Lyons kick off 2009-10 campaigns with road split (more)

Upcoming Schedule

14-Nov Sat Coast Guard/NYU A 1:00pm
19-Nov Thu Colorado College H 6:00pm (Live Results)
21-Nov Sat Keene St./Springfield A 1:00pm