Xavier Swimming Closes Out Home Schedule With Loss to Sacred Heart

On Senior Day, Xavier swimming ended the home portion of its schedule by losing to Sacred Heart 98-86. The defeat was Xavier’s sixth straight and dropped the Falcons to 4-7 on the season.

While freshman Mike Pimer in the 500 free was the only Xavier swimmer win on the night, with a time of 5:45.61, the team had 8 second place finishes. Senior Greg Brown was runner-up in the 200 IM with a time of 2:17.35 and finished second in the 100 fly at 59.79. The Falcons 200 medley and 200 free relays also both placed second.

Despite her squad losing yet another meet due to its lack of depth, Xavier Head Coach Leandra Matos is looking beyond their poor record and to the improvement her swimmers have shown this season.

“Individually wise, I’m very happy with my time,” she said. “All of our swimmers have gotten better and improved their times since the beginning of the season. That’s impressive, considering this is a rebuilding year.”

Xavier has one more meet on the road versus Fairfield Prep next Tuesday before some of its swimmers move on to the SCC Championships on February 29^th and the Class LL Championship and State Open next month. Even in a so-called rebuilding season, the Falcons have qualified eight swimmers for Class LL’s and should qualify more in the next few weeks. Here is a list of the eight team members who are already qualified for the LL Championship.

Stephen Russo ’12 - 100 Fly

Greg Brown ‘12 - 100 Fly

Blake Bibisi ‘12 – Diving

Spencer Beaulieu ‘12 – Diving

Matt Lyons ‘11 - 100 Breast

Ben Criscuolo ‘11 - 50 Free

Michael Malz ‘12 - 50 Free

Mike Pimer '9' - 100 Fly

Rob Dodenhoff '12' - 100 Fly

Correction: Xavier had a win in the 100 breast with a State qualifying time by Matthew Lyons.