Men's Swimming Image
by Jim Mullins
Assistant Director
Sports Information
Winter 2001-2002 Review
The 2001-2002 swimming and diving season produced several new school records and a pair of solid finishes in the annual New England Swimming and Diving Championships for UMass Dartmouth's men and women swimmers and divers.
Coach Cathy Motta's swimmers and Jerry Jennings divers finished the season with a fourth place finish for the women and a sixth place finish for the men in the annual New England Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by Bentley College Feb. 22-24.
The UMass Dartmouth men were led by the Male Swimmer of the Meet, exchange student Arne Klaska (Bochum, Germany), who set two new university records and set three new Bentley College pool records. Klaska set school and pool records in the 500 Free (4:45.47) and the 1650 Free (16:38.55) and set a new pool record at Bentley in the 200 Free (1:46.21), while finishing first in all three events.
Klaska was also part of the Corsairs' 800 Free Relay team, along with freshman James Brinley (Melrose, MA), senior Jaren Haxwell (West Boxford, MA), and exchange student Holger Weber (Ettlingen, Germany), which finished third in 7:32.8 and the 400 Free Relay team which placed fourth (3:21.38). UMass Dartmouth's 200 Free Relay team of senior Kevin Deslauriers (Acushnet, MA), Haxwell, Weber and freshman Keith Poyant (Acushnet, MA) finished fifth in 1:33.31.
On the women's side of the competition, sophomore Amy Stucchi (Westboro, MA) set three new UMass Dartmouth school records during the event. Stucchi captured first in the 200 Fly (2:14.36) and placed third in the 100 Fly (1:01.51), third in the 400 IM (4:46.79). Other top performances for UMass Dartmouth were turned in by Jess Looney (Bridgewater, MA) (2nd, 50 Back,: 29.54), Jill Bourdon (Taunton, MA) (3rd, 1650 Free, 19:09.66) and the 800 Free Relay team of sophomore Tara Conley (Westport, MA), sophomore Andrea Desjardins (East Freetown, MA), Bourdon and Stucchi (3rd, 8:29.92). The Corsairs' 400 Medley Relay team of Stucchi, Looney, sophomore Renee Gaudette (Pembroke, MA) and Bourdon were fourth in 4:24.86. Senior co-captain Diana Parisi (Medford, MA) took fourth in the 500 Fly at: 28.39 and sophomore Tara Keefe (Medford, MA) placed fifth in the three-meter diving competition with 332.35 points.
The UMass Dartmouth women placed second in the first Little East Conference Women's Swimming Championships hosted by the Corsairs on Dec. 1, 2001. Stucchi set three new LEC records and junior co-captain Danielle Petrone (Mansfield, MA) set a new LEC diving record by winning the three-meter event with 235.05 points and she also took the one-meter competition with 238.15 points. Stucchi set LEC records in the 200 Fly (2:15.04), 100 Fly (1:02.37) and the 200 IM (2:19.27). Looney was the LEC champion in the 100 Back (1:05.89).
Earlier in the season, Klaska set UMass Dartmouth pool record in the 500 Free with a winning time of 4:54.96 in a meet against Bentley College. During the same meet, Stucchi set school records in the 200 Fly (2:15.46) and 200 IM (2:17.51).
The UMass Dartmouth women finished the dual meet portion of their season with a 7-5 overall record, while the men finished 1-9.
