PHILADELPHIA – The men's swimming and diving team wrapped up its season last week at the Atlantic 10 Championships held at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio. The Explorers were led by dominant performances from senior Daniel Fitzgerald and freshman Johan Roth, both of whom recorded school records in their respective events.
 
Fitzgerald made a strong case for why he was the most valuable swimmer for the Explorers. The Dresher, Pa. native smashed his own school record in the 100 yard backstroke with a preliminary time of 48.25 – a time fast enough to break the 14-year-old Atlantic 10 conference record, as well. Although his conference record will stand for at least one year, Fitzgerald added about half a second in finals which earned him a silver medal. That didn't slow him down heading into the final day of competition, though. He raced a blistering 44.87 in the 100 yard freestyle to break the 31-year-old school record and become the first Explorer under the 45 second mark. Fitzgerald went on to finish seventh in the event's finals which, combined with his fifth place 50 yard freestyle swim (20.56), made him the only swimmer from La Salle to make the “A” final in every event in which he swam.
 
Roth brought home the only gold medal for the Explorer men as the South African won the 200 yard breaststroke in a school record time of 2:00.70. Roth took down teammate Blase Szyszko's record of 2:01.35 with his preliminary time of 2:01.08. He went on to break on own record at night to win by less than a quarter second over Massachusetts' Michael Glenn. In addition, Roth added a fifth place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke, clocking in at 56.05. Combined with his 13^th place finish in the 200 yard individual medley (1:53.53), Roth was the only Explorer freshman swimmer to final in all his events.
 
On the diving boards, freshman CJ Gimpel provided a pair of clutch performances, recording two fourth-place finishes. The Chalfont, Pa. native narrowly missed the podium on 1 meter where his finals score of 257.65 was less than five points shy of a bronze medal. Gimpel earned another fourth place finish on 3 meter with a score of 236.70. Junior Robert Freeling put together a great meet as well, scoring 229.55 points and 225.30 points on 1 meter and 3 meter, respectively for sixth and fifth place finishes.
 
Junior Cameron Cabrera challenged the 200 yard freestyle school record but ultimately fell short, touching in 1:39.72 to place seventh overall. Nonetheless, it was an impressive swim as Cabrera was the first Explorer to break the 1:40.00 mark in five years.
 
Juniors Dave Derr and Sean McCall each notched an “A” final appearance in the 100 yard backstroke and 500 yard freestyle, respectively. Derr rode the momentum he had built all season in the 100 back and broke through the notorious 50.00 barrier with a finals time of 49.89 to secure sixth place. McCall dropped a notable three seconds from his lifetime best with a 4:31.38 in the 500 free to also finish in sixth place.
Senior Blase Szyszko ended his collegiate swimming career with an eighth place finish in the 200 yard breaststroke (2:04.68) and a 12^th place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke (57.03).
 
As a team, the Explorers finished in seventh place with 362.5 points. Excluding a reduced spring training regiment, the men's swim and dive team is off until the beginning of the 2013 fall semester.