The 2007-08 St. Joe’s Swim Team achieved considerable
success in the program’s inaugural varsity season under head
coach Rebecca Biggs. The women’s squad posted a 5-2 record and
earned a 5th place finish in the GNAC Championships. Three individuals
earned New England A Qualifying times and all eight members of the
women’s team contributed to the team’s success in the
New England Championships as members of relay teams.
The men’s team, decimated by injuries for the better part of
the season, was defeated in a pair of meets during the season but
showed improvement and reason for optimism in the future. The returners
are excited about next year’s incoming recruits and look forward
to staying healthy and competing next winter.
Freshman Lindsay D’Ascanio (Kennebunk, ME)
was named as the 2008 Saint Joseph’s College Female Newcomer
of the Year and the GNAC Swimming Rookie of the Year and posted an
impressive rookie campaign with seventeen individual first place finishes
and nine relay top finishes. D’Ascanio won
both of her individual events at the GNAC Championships and set a
meet record in the 50-meter butterfly event. For her efforts, D’Ascanio
was recognized as the GNAC Rookie Swimmer of the Week five times during
the 2007-08 season. Junior Ashton Piers
(Falmouth, ME) also enjoyed a terrific season and was named as the
conference swimmer of the week three times during the year. Sophomore
Lindsay Bates (Waterville, ME) was
the St. Joe’s swim team recipient of the GNAC Sportsmanship
Award.
Coach Biggs announced the SJC Swim Team Awards after the season and
D'Ascanio was named as the Women's Swimming Most
Valuable Player. Lindsay Bates was
tabbed as the Women's Swimming Most Improved Player after earning
two individual top finishes, both in the 100-free, and two relay first
place finishes for the Royal Blue swim program this season. Bates
participated in the New England Championship Finals as a member of
the 200-free, 200-medley, 800-free and 400-free relay teams. Junior
Nick Zecher (Mansfield, MA) took
home the 2007-08 Men's Swimming Most Valuable Player Award. Zecher
earned a first place finish in the 400-free at Elms College on December
8th and finished in second five times this year for Coach Biggs.
Junior Pat Decola (Methuen, MA)
received the 2007-08 Men's Swimming Most Improved honor. DeCola
took home two first place finishes at the Elms College meet and finished
in second twice during the season.
The team’s season began on October 27th with a meet in Bangor,
ME hosted by Husson College. The SJC 200-medley team of FY Katie
Brooks (North Kingstown, RI), Ashton
Piers, Lindsay D’Ascanio
and SO Erin Brady (Quincy,
MA) registered the program’s first ever first-place finish with
a time of 2:10.30. Brooks notched the program’s
first women’s individual victory in the 50-Backstroke event
with a time of 32.96 as the women went on to win 11 of 14 events at
the meet to defeat Husson 143-114.
The men’s team fell to Regis College, 81-30, in the squad’s
first meet on November 18th as junior swimmers Pat
DeCola and Nick Zecher
turned in personal-best times.
After the women defeated Regis 134-117 to improve to 2-0 on the season,
the team went on to participate in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference
Championships hosted by Simmons College (MA). Freshman Lindsay
D'Ascanio achieved a Championship Meet record in
the 50 fly with a time of 28.96 and also won the 200-fly event with
a time of 2:24.65. The women earned a fifth-place finish in the meet,
ahead of conference opponents Norwich University and Husson College.
Although the men lost their final meet at Elms College on December
8th 84-39, Pat DeCola recorded the
program’s first men’s individual victory with a 39.90
time in the 50-Backstroke event. DeCola also earned
a first-place finish in the 50-Butterfly and teammate Nick
Zecher won the 400-Freestyle race at the meet.
The women’s squad also suffered a defeat at the hands of the
Elms College Blazers, 140-114. D’Ascanio continued
her string of strong performances with individual first place finishes
in the 100 fly and 100 IM. She was also a member of the top finishing
medley relay and the 2nd place 200 free relay.
The SJC women’s team was defeated by the University of New England,
147-81, on January 7th in Biddeford, ME. St. Joe's was led by Ashton
Piers, who earned all three of the team's first place
finishes in the contest. Piers won the 50-yard breaststroke
(37:09), 100-yard breaststroke (1:20.34) and the 100-yard individual
medley (1:10.85) and achieved New England qualifying times in all
three events.
The women halted the two-meet skid and won 13 of 14 events against
Husson College in Bangor, ME on January 12th to cruise to victory
and score a season-high 151 team points. Ashton Piers,
Erin Brady and Lindsay
D'Ascanio all earned three individual first place
finishes in the competition. The three swimmers tallied 38 points
apiece for their efforts. Katie Brooks
had two top finishes and 33 points. The triumph improved the team’s
season record to 3-2.
The St. Joe's women earned wins over both Husson College and host
team Wheelock College, 82-31 and 64-59, respectively, in a double
dual meet on January 26th to conclude the team’s first season
with a 5-2 record. D’Ascanio took home three
first-place finishes and Piers added a pair of individual
victories in the three-team meet.
The Saint Joseph’s College women’s team placed 18th in
the New England Championships to cap the squad’s inaugural varsity
season. D’Ascanio returned to the finals in
all three of her individual events and earned a team-best 13th place
finish in the 50-Butterfly with a time of 29.77.
The upcoming 2008-09 season should be an exciting one for Coach Biggs
and her men’s and women’s swim teams. Both teams return
intact and a talented recruiting class will surely help build upon
the team’s successful inaugural season. Coach Biggs projects
that the number of swimmers on both teams next year will likely double
as a result of her recruiting efforts.
Women's team captains for the 2008-09 season will be Ashton
Piers, who will be a senior, and upcoming juniors
Lindsay Bates and Danielle
Harmon (Poland, ME). Men’s captains for next
year will be upcoming seniors Pat DeCola
and Nick Zecher.
2007-08
Season Preview
The
Monks Swim Team is excited to begin its first season as a varsity
sport at Saint Joseph's College. Eleven of the sixteen athletes are
returning swimmers who participated on the club team last season.
"We're very pleased with how the team is taking shape in the early
part of the season," adds Head Swim Coach Becky Biggs.
Both FY Lindsay D'Ascanio (Kennebunk,
ME) and FY Katie Brooks (N. Kingstown, RI) are strong first year recruits.
SO Danielle Harmon (Poland, ME)
and Lindsay D'Ascanio already have
shown their skill in the butterfly events in the first meet. Both
achieved qualifying times for the New England Championship meet. Katie
Brooks is expected to have a strong presence in the
backstroke events. JR Ashton Piers
(Falmouth, ME) came back to school after the summer ready to be a
threat in the pool and is expected to attain qualifying times in breastroke
events this season. SO Erin Brady
(Quincy, MA), JR Breana Murphy (Old
Orchard Beach, ME), SO Lindsay Bates
(Waterville, ME) and FY Meghan Lyons
(Danvers, MA) will all be strong contributers in the freestyle events.
JR Pat DeCola (Methuen, MA) and
JR Nick Zecher (Mansfield, MA) have
also returned this year determined to make their mark in the pool.
Both swimmers have already achieved personal best times in the sprint
freestyle events and are very excited about what the future holds
with regard to their performances in the pool.
Swimming is a sport that relies on numbers as well as times. Every
swimmer on the team contributed to the Monks win in the first meet.
"It is my hope that the hard work and determination that I see in
the pool each day at practice will translate into success at the meets,"
says Coach Biggs. The six qualifying times that swimmers on the team
have already achieved is a foreshadowing of all that is to come in
the Monks swim season. Recruiting has already begun for next year
and the prospective student athletes for both the men's and women's
team are strong and will further strengthen the skill that is already
in the pool here at St. Joe's.
