This past Saturday proved to be a big day for the Lions, as both the men and women conquered William Paterson University by scores of 171-100 and 194-84, respectively. This was no typical victory, however, as it marked the 200th win for the men’s head coach, Brian Bishop.
“It’s not a win for me, but a win for the program and that’s the way I look at it,” the 24-year veteran said. “Since 1989, when I first started with the team, we’ve had tremendous athletes come through and this is a great win for them, a great win for The College of New Jersey, and I am just glad to be part of it.”
As for the men’s team, they’re just happy to swim under Bishop’s guidance. Sophomore Mark Marsella had a career day and gives much credit to his coach.
“(Bishop) just told me to stay loose and to not swim robotically, so that’s what I did and it worked,” Marsella said.
With the time of 10:26.24 in the 1000-yard free, Marsella earned a collegiate best, which was good enough for a first place finish. In the 500-yard free, he placed second behind fellow sophomore Dennis Hall-App.
“It felt really cool to have done well on the day he had his 200th win,” Marsella said. “(It is special) because he really cares about our program and always puts us first, so it’s humbling.”
As for the other events, a trio of the College’s freshmen also dominated the 200-yard free, with Joseph Dunn, James Shangle and Frederick McDonald taking the top three spots, respectively. Sophomore William LaPorta also had big results, winning the 100-yard breast in 1:07.39 and 200-yard breast in 2:00.84. As for Bishop, he was quite pleased with the team’s progress.
“We had a big meet last weekend and a couple next weekend so we put some guys in who usually don’t do the events and they performed really well,” he said.
The women also had excellent times as they extended their undefeated record to 5-0. Leading the Lady Lions was senior Jenny Zavoda, who won both the 100-yard free in 55.16 and the 1000 free with the time of 11:19.86. Behind her for second and third place in the 1000 free were junior Amy Schurer and freshman Lauren Rothstein with respective times of 11:46.13 and 11:54.43.
Senior Samantha Parlow also had a great day for the women’s squad, taking first place in both the 50-yard free and 500-yard free. In the 50 free, she dominated the pool with the time of 25.46. Following that performance, she finished with another impressive time of 5:26.60 in the 500 free.
As for the diving team, senior Danica Roskos once again swept in both of her events. She racked up scores of 301.55 in the one-meter and 296.50 in the three-meter competition.
With the Lady Lions in complete control over the Pioneers, their main focus now turns over to next week against Rowan University and Stevens Institute of Technology.
“I am very proud of everyone because they all did well today,” Zavoda said. “I hope that we stay undefeated, but (both) are definitely worthy adversaries so I look forward (to that matchup).”
