Published: March 4, 2010

On Feb. 20, before a packed house at the Flickinger Center in Buffalo, N.Y., Fordham’s women’s swimming and diving team won the Atlantic-10 championship. The title was the first A-10 championship for a Fordham’s women team in any sport. The team claimed the title by finishing 80 points ahead of rival Richmond, which had taken the A-10 title for nine consecutive years.

“We had great leadership from our captains and seniors,” said head coach Steve Potsklan. “They had plenty of character, motivation, and drive and this caught on with the rest of the team.” It also helped that this team is always preparing themselves for success. They practice all summer long and 20 hours a week during school.

The championship brings the team’s main goal full circle and confirms the A-10 coaches’ preseason predictions, which had Fordham winning the conference title.

Potsklan tried to downplay the pressure of being the conference favorite. “They just picked us to win because they don’t like Richmond,” he joked. Potsklan used that type of attitude to keep the stress off of his team and keep the focus on swimming.

During the course of the three-day A-10 championship meet, Fordham jumped out to an early lead over Richmond. However, as the tournament wore on, their lead had all but disappeared as Richmond tied them atop the points total with 536. Despite this, the team was never fazed. Potsklan felt they knew that Richmond might make a surge due to the ordering of the events. The Rams knew they had their best events remaining after the surge.

“It was a tense, packed place,” Potsklan said of the atmosphere in Buffalo. “Obviously it’s a three-and-a-half-day meet. There is pressure but you just have to keep steady. It’s not going to be just one person who’s going to win this.”

Nicole Marshall, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’10, then regained the lead for Fordham, finishing second in the 200-meter breaststroke with a school-record time of 2:18:33.

Fordham’s strongest event, the 200-meter butterfly, saw Kim Bouton, FCRH ’10, win the “B” heat and  Courtney Collyer, FCRH ’12, win the “A” heat.

The Rams also made a strong showing in diving, with all three Fordham comeetitors placing in the finals of the three-meter dive. Andrea Krok, FCRH ’12, finished fourth, followed by Elizabeth Dorger, FCRH ’12, in seventh and Brittany Salas, FCRH ’13, in eighth.

Fordham wrapped up their championship title in the 400-meter relay, the final event of the meet. The team of Teresa Dunn, Kim Bunster and Caitlin Napoli, all FCRH ’10, and Brienne Ryan, FCRH ’13 claimed first place with a school-record time of 3:23.72.

The championship comes after nine straight titles by rival Richmond. “Richmond was a nine-year-in-a-row champ,” Potsklan said. “To beat them shows how far our program has come.”

To add to the joy of the title, the Rams broke 14 Fordham records and one A-10 record. Potsklan felt this was an amazing feat to break the record because this is a transition year in which hydrodynamic tech suits are now banned.

Eight Fordham swimmers were awarded All A-10 honors, and Potsklan was named A-10 coach of the year for the second straight year.

To celebrate the title, the team had a get together with parents and swimmers at their hotel. They sat around, ate and enjoyed each other’s company. It was the perfect end to the college careers of the seniors on the team.

“We want to sustain our spot in the conference,” Potsklan said. “We want to be able to challenge for the title every year. It’s going to be difficult because we’re losing a great senior class who has had amazing performances. However, we have talented athletes left and a great young