Nov. 3, 2004
Success is a word that describes George Mason University's swim programs. Entering their sixth year of existence, the women have won three-straight Colonial Athletic Association Championships to tie the conference record for most championships won in a row, while the Patriot men placed second in 2004 for their best finish in school history.
To add to the success of the team's performances, then senior Jamie Downing was named CAA Diver of the Year last year, Tom Kouchervary earned men's conference swimming Rookie of the Year and Roland McDonald garnered CAA Women's Diving Coach of the Year honors.
With this much success, head coach Peter Ward, who is entering his sixth season at Mason with an overall record of 97-45 for both men's and women's teams, has a foundation to build upon and is excited for both teams to continue to grow this season.
"We find ways to make changes inside of our program to allow our athletes to continue to improve," said Ward. "I think our success in the past proves that we have done just that with both our veteran athletes, as well as our newcomers."
On the women's side, the Patriots have a strong senior class to help lead Mason to its possible fourth-straight conference title in February at the Aquatic and Fitness Center on Mason's campus. Included in the mix of the senior class is Christy Anderson who won the 200 breaststroke (2:19.21), as well as the 200 IM at the 2004 CAA Championships.
Seniors Steph Lubore and Emily Welty enter their final year at Mason and both have won CAA Championships in their years with the Patriot program. Senior Mary Campioli was an NCAA diving qualifier her sophomore season and also claimed the 1-meter diving event in 2003 at the conference championships.
"I believe our biggest strength on the women's side is our senior leadership," stated Ward. "This is the first time we have what I would consider a big and dominant senior class and we will be looking to them a great deal. We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores who will hopefully look up to that leadership this season."
For the men, Ward believes the biggest strength is the diversity throughout the team. Senior David Cooper returns after having a strong junior season, while Mike Peterson looks to close out his collegiate career at Mason after transferring in a year ago from Virginia Tech.
Tim Norton was named conference men's Rookie of the Year in 2003 and enters his junior campaign looking to defend his CAA titles in the 200 fly (1:50.53) and the 400 IM (3:59.31). In addition, Kouchervary closed out the season on a high note after finishing first in the 1,650 free at the conference championships in a Mason freshman record setting time of 15:38.99.
"We have good athletes across the board in just about every event for the men's team and we do not show any weaknesses with it," said Ward. "I think with the addition of a great freshmen diving class it solidifies the strength of the men's team across the board."
For the women, Ward is excited about the newcomers for the 2004-05 season, which includes Mallory Pucci from Raleigh, N.C., Brittany Surkovich from Ellicott City, Md., a local athlete in Sarah Bitzer, as well as a new diver in Amanda Fielding (Closter, N.J.).
"We have a very nice freshmen class on the women's side this season," commented Ward. "Mallory is a very diverse swimmer who will help us out in a lot of ways, while Brittany swims a very good fly, which was somewhat of a hole for us last year and will be able to fill it for us this year.
"I am thrilled to see what happens with Sarah, who I think will be terrific in our program. In addition, Amanda will be a part of our great tradition of women's diving."
On the men's side, Ward is enthused about the freshmen diving class that will join the Patriots this year, which includes Stephen Lepsch (Yorktown, Va.), Tim Pearce (Alexandria, Va.), Ian Djuric (Libertyville, Ill.) and Daniel Yang (Fairfax, Va.). In addition, Ward feels that Matt Kane, from Chesterfield, Va., will add a lot to Mason's program.
"We have four freshmen divers, that I think will make a huge difference and will bring our men's diving to the same level as our women's diving program," said Ward. "Regarding swimming, we look at Matt (Kane) as a very talented swimmer who will have the opportunity to grow inside of our program as I believe he is going to do good things while at Mason."
The Patriots will begin to showcase their talent in the opening meet at the Potomac Relays in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 15. The women compete in their first dual meet of the season at Navy on Oct. 22 and both teams will see action at Delaware the following day. After competing against both William & Mary and former Colonial Athletic Association member school East Carolina at home, the Aquatic and Fitness Center will be one of three sites to host a new CAA Pod Meet (Nov. 5-6) and then will go on to host the annual Patriot Invitational (Nov. 19-21).
"East Carolina has improved as a team since changing conferences, so that will be a very good match-up for us in the fall," stated Ward. "The CAA Pod Meet should be exciting for us and something different. Everyone swims the same events so it will be a nice test to see where people are early in the season. We are looking forward to that meet.
"Since the changes in our conference, I think it has brought more equity to the league teamwise. There are many good teams now, which has made the conference championship that much more exciting."
After competing in many dual meets home and away during the winter season, the Patriots will host the CAA Championships for the fifth-straight year at the Aquatic and Fitness Center from Feb. 23-26.
"I think that we have a great facility and it is a great venue to host a championship," commented Ward. "This meet is to me what college sports is all about. The fantastic atmosphere, along with the great team spirit adds to the excitement of the championships."
"Our goal for the season is to give each one of our athletes the opportunity to perform the best that they can, and to do everything we can to make sure that happens," stated Ward. "If that happens, then we will be a very good team and certainly have an opportunity to be very competitive in the CAA Championships."
