Cougars Primed For Run In 2011-12

Worcester, Mass. – The Clark University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams return to action on Saturday, October 22 with a home meet against NEWMAC rival Babson, kicking off the program’s 34th  and 33rd seasons, respectively.

Under head coach Paul E. Phillips, the Cougars return a wealth of experience to the pool, headlined by senior All-Americans Eileen Garcia (New York, N.Y.) and Ryan Garr (North Kingstown, R.I.).

Garcia has rewritten the Clark record book on the diving board, while Garr will look to make his second trip to the NCAA Championships in 2011-12.

Phillips, who  was named New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year in 2011, following his team’s sixth place finish at the conference championships, returns for his ninth season on the pool deck.

Garcia, who is the reigning two-time NEWMAC Diver of the Year, is a five-time All-America selection and has been named first-team all-conference four times.

Garr, meanwhile, is the conference record holder in the 200 backstroke and has been named all-conference five separate times, including four first-team nods.

In the pool for the women, Clark returns sophomore sensation Gabriela Jijon-Nemalceff (Quito, Ecuador), who set five individual school records in 2010-11. She is also a part of two more relay record-setting teams and was selected as a College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) honorable mention scholar all-America.

Also back for the Cougars is senior co-captain Erin Smith (Carrollton, Texas) who is the school record-holder in the 50-yard backstroke, which she set last season.  

400-yard individual medley record holder Mollie Kleyboecker (Albuquerque, N.M.) returns to the water for Clark as does the rest of 400-yard relay squad of Jijon-Nemalceff, Morgan King (Arlington, Mass.) and Emily Newton (East Lyme, Conn.)

The school-record holders in the 200-yard medley relay on the men’s side - Garr, Clive Green (Portmore, Jamaica), Tim Sistare (Westford, Mass.) and Lamar Duffy (Pen Argyl, Pa.) are all back for the Cougars in 2011-12.

Green emerged a season ago, setting the school mark in the 50-yard butterfly as a freshman, and also posted the top team time in the 100-yard butterfly as well.

The duo of Sistare and Duffy, join returners Alex Kappel (Rye, N.H.) and Zach Eaton (Kittery Point, Maine) to form the foursome that set the school record in the 800-yard freestyle last season – a standard that stood since 1994.

With record holders a plenty and strong leadership from its senior leaders, both the men’s and women’s teams should be in contention when the first-ever combined NEWMAC Swimming and Diving Championships take place at MIT in the middle of February.