By Mike Gincel, contributing writer
This past weekend, the Saint Leo University Lions took on Sunshine State Conference Rival Rollins College in a tri-sport showdown. Swimming, Men’s and Women’s Basketball were the three sports and the contests were highly publicized with the Student Government Union sponsoring the Swim Meet with free sunglasses, flip flops and ice cream. At the end of the day, the Rollins Tars were handed four losses as the Lions took them down in each sport with each contest having their own moments of spectale and wonder
First, the Lions dove into the water at the Marion Bowman Aquatic Complex as the Lions faced the Tars in the morning at 11am. Before the races began, the swimming teams paid respect to their graduating seniors as this was the last home meet of the season. For the women, it was the last home meet for Katie David, Sandra Stopczynska and Sarah Earls. For the men, the two seniors were Michael Cozzi and Carlos Araque. As the races began, it was evident that the Lions were here to win. On the women’s side, freshman Erin Bobstein was a standout performer, as she finished her heat in the 100 Yard Backstroke with a time of 1:00:57, nearly five seconds faster than the second place finisher. Senior Sandra Stopczynska also finished her last home meet in style as she finished with a time of 32.14 in the 50 Yard Breaststroke. The team of Bobstein, Stopczynska, Bains and Bouthiller finished in 1st place for their performance in the 200 Yard Medley Relay. At the end of the meet the women defeated the Lady Tars, 153-109.
On the men’s side, the individual standouts were Senior Michael Cozzi and Freshmen Matheus Assis as they both won three events in the individual events. Cozzi won the 1000 Yard Freestyle with a time of 10:04.24, the 50 Yard Breaststroke with a time of 27.80 and the 500 Yard Freestyle with a time of 4:54:12. Assis won his events in the 100 Yard Butterfly, the 100 Yard Freestyle and the 100 Yard IM with times of 51.30, 46.55 and 51.63 respectively. In the team events, the men’s team outshone the Tars. The team of Rhet Rheinlander, Araque, Gabe Keown and Alberto-Requejo won 1st in the 200 Yard Medley Relay title, while Alberto-Requejo, Cozzi, Assis, and Rheinlander scored a win in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay. The men defeated the Tars by a score of 183-72. The swim teams now face the SSC Championships at Nova Southeastern on February 13th.
At 2pm, it was time for the Lady Lions Basketball Team to take on the Rollins Lady Tars. It was an exciting match to see as the Lions shot out to an early lead in the first half, going into the locker room at half-time with the score of 30-17. The Rollins squad did not give up as they went on a late game run to cut the lead to three with only four minutes left in regulation. Teresa Manigrasso made a jumper and the team took that and made the lead back up to nine. With one last shot, Rollins cut the lead to four with one minute left. But it was too little, too late for Rollins as the Lions won the game 52-48. Four Lions scored in the double digits in this game with Teresa Manigrasso leading the pack with 18 points, Kinnara Lewis not far behind with 17 points, Chelsea Connelly scored 16 points and Keishara Green contributed 11points.This ended a 14 year losing streak to the Rollins Tars and pushes the ladies to 10-8 overall with a record of 5-3 in the conference. As of this release, they are currently in third place overall in the conference.
Coming off four consecutive overtime battles, the Men’s team flared up on the court at 4pm against Rollins with a strong start to the Tars as they walked out after the first half with a strong 49-26 lead as what was to be a great conference matchup became quickly lopsided. Despite a Tars comeback that cut the lead to 14, the Lions went on a fast 21-10 run at the end of the second half for a 79-54 win. Leading the pack for this match was Jerrel Harris, with 26 points, a season high for him. Senior Marcus Ruh was one point behind at 25 points. Ruh made 5 three-pointers in the game and has led the team in three-pointers all season. Trent Thomas also made 10 points in this game, with 9 of those ten coming from three-pointers and 1 from the charity line. The Lions also held the Rollins Tars to just two of their team to make double digits. The Lions improved to 13-4, and 6-2 overall in conference, good for second place as of this release. They also handed Rollins their first loss in the conference overall, putting them at 7-1 after the game in conference standing.
It was a great weekend to be a Lion as these teams outswam and outshot the Tars in a Saturday full of excitement, fun and true Lion spirit as fans enjoyed the day of events. For more information on these teams and the Saint Leo Lions, check out the athletics site at www.SaintLeoLions.com or check out their Facebook page (Saint Leo Lions) or follow them on the twitter @SaintLeoLions. And as always, Go Lions!
