Oct. 15, 2009
PARKING INFORMATION:
Those attending Saturday's swimming and diving meet can park in the following areas:
* Garage on 43rd Street
* Side lots on 43rd Street
* Lot 43 (Powhatan Sports Complex lot)
NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion men's and women's swimming and diving squad kicks off the 2009-10 season on Saturday when they host the College of Charleston. Diving kicks off at 9:00 a.m., while the swimming events start at noon.
The squad returns to its home, the J.C. Scrap Chandler Pool, for the first time in three years following the new construction on the recreation center on campus. In addition to the College of Charleston, the Monarchs and Lady Monarchs will have two other home meets - James Madison, Northeastern, Drexel, and William & Mary the weekend of November 6-8 and East Carolina on January 16th.
Captaining the 2009-10 men's team are seniors Chad Gangwer (Va. Beach, Va.), Kevin Latimer (Newport News, Va.), and Johan Lundberg (Fjaras, Sweden), and junior David Skorupa (Richmond, Va). Last season the men's team finished at 10-1 overall and placed second at the CAA Championships.
Returning to the water for the Monarchs are all seven all-conference honorees from last year.
* Arni Arnason (Msfellsbaer, Iceland) was Old Dominion's first CAA Swimmer of the Year selection and is the first in conference history to receive Swimmer of the Year and Rookie Swimmer of the Year accolades in the same season. He was the CAA champion in the 50 free (19.85), the 100 breast (53.48) and the 200 breast (1:58.37). He set school records in all three events, broke the meet record in the 100 and 200 breast, and set a new CAA mark in the 100 breast. Arnason went to compete in all three events at the NCAA Swimming Championship last March, where he placed 21st in the 200 breast, 25th in the 100 breast and 42nd in the 50 free.
* Johan Lundberg (Fjaras, Sweden) earned All-CAA honors in both the 100 and 200 breast, as well as the 200 individual medley and as a member of the four of the relay teams (200, 400 free; 200, 400 medley) a year ago. The two-time CAA champion in the 200 IM, Lundberg bested the previous Monarch top time of 1:51.77. With his seven All-CAA nods last season, Lundberg has totaled 13 all-conference honors to date. He won all-league honors in the 200 and 400 medley relays in 2007 and picked up all-conference awards in the 200 breast, 200 IM, and the 200 and 400 medley relays last season.
* Kristian Ramkvist (Bjarred, Sweden), joined Lundberg in the 200 IM finals last year, placing third in the event en-route to All-CAA honors. Ramkvist's performance in the event with a time of 1:51.29 gave him the second best time in Monarch history.
* The Monarchs also took home five All-CAA honors in the relay events. Arnason, Lundberg, and Gangwer joined Steven Loccisano (Fredericksburg, Va.) in earning all-conference honors in the 200 and 400 free relays. Loccisano and Gangwer teamed with Mikael Ramkvist (Bjarred, Sweden), brother of All-CAA performer Kristian in the 200 IM, and Kris Hagg (Skovde, Sweden) for All-CAA distinction in the 800 free relay. The squad, which finished second at CAA's, posted an ODU record setting time of 6:40.28. Ramkvist, Arnason, Lundberg, and Gangwer also brought home All-CAA honors in the 200 and 400 medley relays. Both medley squads swam their way to second place times and new Monarch benchmarks.
On the women's side, the Lady Monarchs finished last season at 9-7 overall and placed seventh at the CAA Championships. Captaining this year's team are junior April Barrientos (Va. Beach, Va.), junior Lauren Fiskus (Yorktown, Va.), senior Kelli North (Newport News, Va), and junior Kelsey Thompson (Chesapeake, Va.).
Like the men's squad, the Lady Monarchs return all of their All-CAA performers from last season. Returning to the pool are:
* Erla Dogg Haraldsdottir (Njardvik, Iceland), who earned five All-CAA distinctions.Haralsdottir earned All-CAA in the 100 and 200 breast, the 200 individual medley, and as a member of both the 200 and 400 medley relay teams. She finished second in the both the 200 IM (2:02.17) and 200 breast (2:14.72). Both were new Old Dominion record times with her 200 breast finish capturing an NCAA "B" cut. Haraldsdottir also took third in the 100 breast (1:02.67), resetting yet another Lady Monarch benchmark.
* April Barrientos earned three All-CAA honors as the conference champion in the 100 back and as part of the 200 and 400 medley relay squads. In the 100 back, Barrientos gave Old Dominion its only CAA champion on the women's side. She recorded a new CAA mark with her top time of 55.48, which was also a new ODU record, resetting her previous record. It was the second straight All-CAA accolade for Barrientos in the 100 back.
* Agata Nowak (Gorzow, Poland) was named All-CAA in the 100 fly and was also apart of the all-conference 200 and 400 medley relay teams. Nowak placed second in the event en-route to an NCAA "B" cut and another ODU record. Nowak finished in a time of 54.09 resetting her own Lady Monarch record, which had stood for 25 years.
* A pair of relay teams also picked up all-league honors. Joining Haraldsdottir, Barrientos, and Nowak in receiving all-conference honors as members of the 200 and 400 medley relay teams were Liza Moiseeva (Moscow, Russia) and Maddie Stiles (Fairfax, Va.). Moiseeva swam the anchor leg of the 200 medley relay helping the Lady Monarchs place second at the CAA Championships and claiming the third fastest time in ODU history with a time of 1:46.48. Stiles swam anchor on the 400 medley relay team as the Lady Monarchs placed third with a new school record time of 3:45.36.