{"id":61893,"date":"2011-04-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-men-capture-national-swim-club-championship\/"},"modified":"2011-04-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-18T00:00:00","slug":"uri-men-capture-national-swim-club-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2011\/04\/uri-men-capture-national-swim-club-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 men capture national swim club championship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 18, 2011 \u2013 Halfway through the second day of the East Coast Club Championship, the 溏心vlog免费B站 men\u2019s swim team was behind the meet leader by 50 points.<\/p>\n


\n\tBut by the final event in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, home of the swimming and diving events for the 1996 summer Olympics, the Rams had battled to take a three-point lead over the University of Colorado.<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 senior captain Alex MacDonald clinched the men\u2019s title for the Rams with his gold-medal, record-breaking performance of 53.18 seconds in the 100- meter individual medley. The South Burlington, Vt. resident\u2019s win gave Rhode Island a 16-point margin over the Buffaloes at what was dubbed this year\u2019s national club swimming championship. The event attracted 47 teams and 1,000 swimmers from around the country, which also saw MacDonald\u2019s teammate Joe Sagginario of Bellport, N.Y., win gold with a meet-record time of 1.54.32 in the 200-meter butterfly.<\/p>\n


\nTheir wins symbolized the team\u2019s determination to make up lost time and points during the meet weekend of April 1 through 3 and the lack of quit in several upperclassmen who kept men\u2019s swimming alive when it was cut as a varsity sport three years ago.<\/p>\n


\nThe swim team\u2019s national title only adds to 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s reputation as a national club sports powerhouse, with men\u2019s ice hockey winning a national title in 2006, women\u2019s gymnastics winning a national crown in 2010 and women\u2019s rugby taking a national title in 2007. Of course, sailing with its 11 national keelboat titles, is the giant of the program.<\/p>\n


\n First-year swim coach Anthony Randall, a former member of the Rhode Island varsity squad who graduated in 2008 with a degree in journalism, was inspired by his 13-member squad\u2019s toughness as it overtook many other teams with 20 or more swimmers.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThey all worked hard in the classroom, in the pool and during dry-land workouts,\u201d Randall said.<\/p>\n


\nThanks to the efforts of Mick Westkott, the women\u2019s varsity coach, the men were allowed to travel to Division I women\u2019s meets so they could compete against the men\u2019s varsity teams.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe would swim in these Division I meets and some Division III meets and we were soundly beaten, but we always swam hard,\u201d Randall said.<\/p>\n


\nDuring a training trip with the women\u2019s team to Sarasota, Fla. and a 13-team club meet, Randall sensed that the team\u2019s confidence was starting to grow.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cDuring training in Florida, we swam twice a day, and in between swim sessions, we would either lift weights or run,\u201d Randall said. \u201cAs the week went on, I could see that we were ready to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAll through the season, which began in October 2010, Randall looked to his seniors to help guide the newer members of the team. And so, when the championship weekend arrived, he looked over the lineup with the seniors.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThey made some suggestions and I listened because I needed the support of the entire team,\u201d Randall said. \u201cThey had some good ideas about who would be the strongest performers in each event and their assistance played a key role in our title.\u201d

\nMacDonald, a marketing and psychology major, Sagginario, a chemical engineering major, and fellow senior captain Rob Deering of Mount Prospect, Il., were among the iron men of the team. MacDonald swam in six individual events and five relays; Deering, a fourth-year pharmacy student, swam in six individual races and four relays and Sagginario swam in six individual races and two relays.<\/p>\n


\nThe three captains, senior Dan Perreault of Wallingford, Conn. and junior Evan Denard of Doylestown, Pa. were the only remaining swimmers who had been recruited to swim for the 溏心vlog免费B站 varsity team.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis was a great way for the four seniors on the team to finish their college careers given all they have been through,\u201d said Weskott, their former varsity coach. \u201cIt is a real testament to their character, and this finish brings great credit and recognition to the University. Everyone at the 溏心vlog免费B站 has helped this program thrive and succeed given the difficulty of the situation three years ago, and especially the four seniors.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nSkipper Randall said when he swam for the varsity, a family atmosphere prevailed, and he wanted to see that survive. \u201cI know the seniors and juniors have kept that alive. They know the traditions,\u201d Randall said.<\/p>\n


\nBut the coach and the swimmers had to learn to do things differently. During the season, the team practiced from 2 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and everyone knew classes and other academic commitments would conflict with practice times.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cI learned how to train with coach Westkott,\u201d Randall said. \u201cSo I wanted to follow that model, but I also wanted to give the swimmers flexibility to achieve in the classroom. There were times when it was tough to get bodies in the water, but when they were training, I had their undivided attention.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIn our first year as a club, we acted like we were still varsity because Mick Westcott was still coaching us and we swam in the Division I Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships where we finished ninth out of 24 teams,\u201d Deering said. \u201cWe swam angry that year.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nBut in the second year, Deering and his mates had to let go of their anger to start running the club. \u201cIt was a difficult transition, but this year we were prepared and ready to go to nationals,\u201d Deering said.<\/p>\n


\nThey also had several hungry newcomers, including sophomore pharmacy major Kevin Sun, who was named to the Rhode Island All State team in his senior year at South Kingstown High School, and Eric O\u2019Rourke, a sophomore from Westerly.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cEric was great, and he had a breakout meet, finishing 16th out of 90 swimmers in the 1,000-meter race,\u201d MacDonald said. \u201cWe were all cheering like crazy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe coach and the seniors agree that with a solid group of juniors, sophomore and freshmen, the team will be strong in the future. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cWinning the nationals was surreal and it took a while for it all to sink in,\u201d Saggarinio said.<\/p>\n


\nDenard, the junior who is majoring in secondary education and mathematics, said he believed the team won because of its work ethic. \u201cWe had a great effort all year long, and we all love the sport. This was one of the best college experiences of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFor complete meet results go to http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/results\/hy-tek\/2011%20East%20Coast%20Swim%20Club%20Championships%20-%20%2804-01-2011%20-%2004-03-2011%29\/index.aspx

\nThe following is the full team roster with swimmers\u2019 hometowns. Neubauer did not compete because of an injury. <\/p>\n


\nThomas Beagan\tWest Warwick\t\t

\nRobert Deering\tMt. Prospect, Ill.\t

\nEvan Denard\t\tDoylestown, Pa.\t

\nToby Fontaine\t\tWakefield

\nTommy Frick\t\tLake Worth, Fla.\t\t

\nPaul Ianiro\t\tWest Orange, N.J.\t

\nBrendon Neubauer\tBarrington

\nKevin Ng\t\tSummit, N.J.

\nAlex MacDonald\tSouth Burlington, Vt.

\nEric O\u2019Rourke\t\tWesterly

\nDan Perreault\t\tWallingford, Conn.

\nJoe Sagginario\tBellport, N.Y.

\nKevin Sun\t\tWakefield<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nNATIONAL CHAMPS: Members of the 溏心vlog免费B站 men\u2019s swim team pose after winning the national title at the East Coast Club Championship in early April. Standing from left are: Paul Ianiro of West Orange, N.J., Tommy Beagan of West Warwick, Alex MacDonald of South Burlington, Vt., coach Anthony Randall, originally of Harrisburg, Pa., Kevin Ng of Summit, N.J., Kevin Sun of Wakefield, Tommy Frick of Lake Worth, Fla., Dan Perreault of Wallingford, Conn., Joe Sagginario of Bellport, N.Y., Brendan Neubauer of Barrington, Robert Deering of Mount Prospect, Ill., and Toby Fontaine of Wakefield. Seated from left, Eric O’Rouke of Westerly, Even Denard of Doylestown, Pa. Photo courtesy Joe Sagginario.

\nPhoto by Joseph Michael Sagginario
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KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 18, 2011 \u2013 Halfway through the second day of the East Coast Club Championship, the 溏心vlog免费B站 men\u2019s swim team was behind the meet leader by 50 points. But by the final event in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, home of the swimming and diving events for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}