Loyola Greyhound

Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jesse DeFlorio The H2Ounds capped off a strong 2007-08 campaign with a third-place finish.

An electric atmosphere filled the Mangione Aquatic Center last weekend as Loyola hosted the 2008 MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships. There were high hopes for the H20unds as both the men and women were aiming to dethrone defending champ Marist.

"These are the most exciting swim meets in the country," Loyola's athletic director Joe Boylan said. "We have a great turnout and it is great to see the competition when it is this close."

But Marist proved to be too deep, coming out on top for the fourth straight year on the men's side and the fifth straight year on the women's side in one of the closest meets in years. Both the men and women finished third for Loyola -- behind Marist and Rider -- with the men scoring 748.5 and the women scoring 710, just 4.5 points behind Rider.

Head coach Brian Loeffler received both the men's and women's Coach of the Year Award; it was the second straight time he won the award on the men's side. Loeffler, however, was concentrating on the meet at hand and not his personal accomplishments.

"This was an exciting meet," he said. "A lot of records were broken on both sides. I'm really proud of the team."

The Hounds graduate a strong senior class but are built around their underclassmen, so the future looks bright.

"We have a strong class coming in and we are returning a very strong core," Loeffler said.

The gap between Loyola and the top two teams has shrunk, and next year they could erase it altogether and take over sole possession of first place.

But shrinking that gap this year meant the Hounds had to place at least two swimmers in every finals event. The events that proved costly were the 1- and 3-meter diving events, where Marist and Rider scored significantly higher than Loyola.

The women started out strong with a win in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:36.74, setting a school, pool and MAAC record. Sophomore Megan Royer, junior Emily Benton, freshman Caitlin Cassidy and junior Tori Kamauff teamed up for the win. Royer also won the 50 freestyle (24.12), which qualified as a school and MAAC record, and took fourth in the 100 freestyle (54.27).

Cassidy followed right behind Royer in the 50 freestyle (24.40), and Kamauff came in second place in the 500 freestyle with a school record of 5:05.57.

Continued...

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