George Washington University Athletics
Swimming & Diving Gets 2006-07 Season Underway This Weekend
10/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Oct. 10, 2006
Washington, DC - The George Washington University Swimming & Diving teams are set to open their 2006-07 season Friday, October 13 at the Potomac Relays, hosted by American University at 5:00 pm. The Colonials will go up against several schools from the DC area including American, George Mason, Georgetown, and Mary Washington. Navy's women's swimming and diving team will also be competing.
At last seasons Potomac Relays, The men finished tied for first out of eight schools, and they will look to have a repeat performance this Friday. The women finished fifth at the relays last season, but with several key performers returning from last season, and a very talented group of newcomers, the Colonials will look to improve on that mark this Friday.
The Colonials will also be in action on Saturday, October 14 at 12:00 pm, when they travel to Loyola College, in Baltimore, MD to compete in a quad meet against Loyola, Navy and Catholic.
2006-07 Outlook
The George Washington University Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving teams will approach this season differently than the past. The men bring back virtually their entire roster from last year, and bring in an accomplished recruiting class, which should bode well for the Colonials this season. The women, who graduated nearly half of their roster from last season, bring back many key performers from 2005-06 and are expected to move up the ranks in the Atlantic 10 as well.
GW senior Monica Pampell will lead the way for the women bringing strong performances in both the 100 and 200-yard backstrokes. Monica is versatile enough to also make a strong impact in the freestyle events, and will be effective in the relays as well. Fellow senior, Shannon Ma will be a key performer in the sprint freestyle and butterfly events.
Juniors Molly Moss and Andrea Martin will look to improve on their outstanding performances from 2006. Last year's rookies are now seasoned veterans as sophomores Laura Myers, Ariana Berdini, Lauren Fuchs and Luciana Maggiolo all turned in personal best times last year, and will look to improve even more this year.
Coach Dan Rhinehart is excited about incoming freshmen, Jennifer Cohn, Emily Leik, Christa Gorenflo, Katrina Timlin, and Cissey Ye. All are expected to contribute immediately as the Colonials fight their way up the ladder at the A-10 Championships.
On the men's side, seniors Daniel Mahoney, Jeff Cohn and Jonathan Sabin will be leading the way, as all were championship scorers from last year. Junior diver John Osterholt has shown consistent improvement each year and will expect nothing less this year as the GW diving reins are handed over to new coach Mike Tober. In addition, juniors Drew Boudreau, Mark DeSimone, and Danny Johnson all return after solid sophomore seasons for the men. Sophomores, Tom Pullen, Andrew Farrell, Andrew Sweeney, and Henry Yonge all had strong freshmen seasons and will be looking to move up in the A-10 rankings. Also returning is sophomore standout, David Zenk (A-10 Rookie of the Year and Swimmer of the Year) who figures to rewrite the record books - both at GW and, possibly, in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
The men will look to freshmen Cascade Tuholske, Zachary Hunter, Richard Rogers, and Stephen Cosme to boost the men's chances at A-10s as well.
Hampered by injuries and illness last year, the Colonials fell out of the top 5 in the Atlantic 10 Championships for the first time ever despite the fact that 80 percent of the swimmers recorded personal best times. The 2006 A-10 Championships saw the women's team placing eighth, and the men's team placing seventh, a position that will definitely improve with the coming year.
The 2007 A-10 Championships will be held in Buffalo, NY (Feb 21st - 24th) at the Flickinger Aquatics Center.
