Bobby Martinez – Sports Writer
NEW HAVEN — Jessica Renzo, Laura Richard, and Raymond Cswerko punched their ticket to Geneva, Ohio to compete for this year’s NCAA DII Championships.
Heading into the championships, Southern Connecticut State University had total of 77 individual championships. Junior swimmer Cswerko added to the collection by capturing his first ever National Championship in the 200 fly. Cswerko finished his 200 fly with a time of 1:46:25. The following day, Cswerko competed in the 200 breaststroke but finished in the 18th place.
In conclusion, Cswerko, four-time All-American, headed back to Southern with a National Championship in the 200 fly, runner-up in the 400 individual medley with time of 3:51:83 and fifth place in the 200 medley (1:46:25. Before heading into his meet, he said he hopes to leave with a better result this time around because last year he didn’t do well.
“It’s a great experience to be able to go back again and hopefully do a lot better than I did last year,” said Cswerko. “I didn’t do as well as I hope to last year but hopefully this year I get top eight in all my events in which I planned on doing last year.”
For the past decade, the Owls, under head coach Tim Quill, have dominated the Northeast-10 Conference by winning year-after-year. He has built both, a men’s and women’s program that has gotten stronger each year. This season, Cswerko was the only swimmer for the men’s side who represented the entire NE-10 Conference this year for the NCAA Championships.
Cswerko said he is honored to represent the NE-10 Conference and hopes he does a good job doing so.
“It’s a great way to get the conference out there and hopefully I represent the conference well.”
As for the women’s side, both divers Jessica Renzo and Laura Richard have managed to qualify for the NCAA Championship meet. Heading into this year’s championships, senior diver Richard said she feels much more prepared than she did last year because she knows what to expect this time around.
“Last year it was good just to get the experience of going,” said Richard. “It was both our first time making it so we didn’t really know what to expect. But this year I think we feel a little more confident going into the meet. I think there are 43 other divers so it’s going to be tough.”
Renzo, who is currently a junior, earned All-American Honors in the three-meter diving event at NCAA Championships and finished in twelfth place with a score of 413.75. This season was a good season for both men’s and women’s swimming and diving team who helped Quill receive another Coach of the Year award.
In her final season as an Owl, Richard secured Northeast-10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection, two-time NCAA DII qualifier and 2012-13 Northeast-10 Conference Women’s Swimming and Diving All-Academic Team. As for Renzo, she is also a two-time NCAA DII qualifier and made the Northeast-10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection.
Cswerko on the other hand, has had one of the best seasons ever as an Owl. He has captured the Metropolitan Conference champion in the 200 and 400 individual medley,Northeast-10 Conference champion in the 200 freestyle relay, 200 individual medley, 400 medley relay, 200 medley relay, 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke,Northeast-10 Conference Championships Most Outstanding Performer,Northeast-10 Conference Men’s Swimmer of the Year,All-American in the 400 individual medley.
Under Quill, the Owls have won 19 Northeast-10 Championships. On the men’s side, the Owls won from 2003-08, 2011-13. As for the Women, they secured the NE-10 title from 2003-13. Quill has also won seven Metropolitan Conference championships from 2003-06 for the men and from 2005-07 for the women.
In his entire career as a coach, Quill has coached 103 All-Americans with 56 being men and 53 women. He also has coached 15 Conference Championship MVP’s, eight Northeast-10 Freshman of the Year and 11 NE-10 Swimmers of the Year.
