The Towerlight, March 2, 2009

www. thetowerlight. com пит Published by Baltimore Student Media for the Towson University Community ThBToiuerlighb.Bam... Check out a slideshow from the women’s swimming & diving championships Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon spoke about leadership in Black communities in the CFA News, page 8 Women’s Swimming & Diving Young Tigers take CAA crown, again Eric Gazzillo/ 77ie Towerlight Senior captain Hillary Rieveley hoists the CAA Championship trophy as her teammates celebrate Saturday at George Mason in Fairfax, Va. The Tigers’ victory is the program’s second in two seasons. Value of teamwork key to TU success PETE LORENZ Sports Editor On paper, William & Mary could have beaten Towson at the wom¬ en’s swimming and diving CAA Championships this weekend in Fairfax, Va. In fact, if everyone on the two teams swam their expected times, the Tribe would have won the conference title. But that didn't happen. On the contrary, the Tigers laid a 741-526 whipping on the second-place team, walking away with their second consecutive championship after Saturday’s early-morning prelimi¬ naries. Statistically, it would have been conceivable for Towson to beat the Tribe by 30-40 points, but a 215-point victory over a strong team like William & Mary can only be explained by one thing. "The chemistry is amazing. The guys and the girls, we come together. We’ve been like one," sophomore swimmer Meredith Budner said. "It’s from the coaches; they really motivate us to work together as a team. We watch everyone individual race; when we’re doing amazing, it’s impossible not to get excited." The team, like others in the confer¬ ence, stood by the side of the pool all evening, cheering on whoever was in the pool for Towson. Even when Ryan Godfrey swam on the opposite side, head coach Pat Mead told everyone who wasn’t swimming in the next event to "get over there" as he pointed to the other side of the pool. It was all about being part of a team. He even said so in his post¬ meet pep talk. “I told the girls afterward that we didn’t win a single relay, and yet we won by over 200 points," Mead said. “Normally when you win a champi¬ onship, you have to win relays. We don’t really have 45 superstars, we showed up today with 20 girls who were good, very good." It can be hard for an average sports fan to wrap his or her head around this concept: Athletes from individu¬ alized sports need a good team envi¬ ronment. There is no defense, and no offense. There are no point guards or shooting guards, passers or receiv¬ ers, pitchers or catchers, goalies or defenders. They don’t work directly together. Instead, they race against time. But the swimmers swear by these techniques - that even though they See TEAM, page 22 Record times lead Towson to dominating win in Fairfax PETE LORENZ Sports Editor Behind sophomore Meredith Budner’s record-breaking swims Thursday and Friday nights, the Tigers demolished their opposition to repeat as CAA Champions in a four- day event in Fairfax, Va. Sophomore Brooke Golden also broke a confer¬ ence record in the 200-yard butterfly during Saturday morning’s prelimi¬ naries with a time of 1:58.32, earning an NCAA-B cut. The diving team, which is composed of four freshmen, three of whom competed at the CAAs, turned in a surprising performance that kept the team in a strong posi¬ tion after a solid Wednesday that still left William & Mary in first place after one day. The team finished the meet with 741 points, 215 ahead of the Tribe’s 526, to complete the team’s second straight season of being undefeated in conference competition. "I think our biggest strength was that we had so many numbers this year," head coach Pat Mead said, who was named women’s swimming coach of the year for the second straight time. “We had, to start off the year, like 46 girls, and our philosophy is to try to give everyone an opportunity and to try to be successful, and by having that many people, they fought all year long for their spots.” Budner shattered her own confer¬ ence record, set at last year's cham¬ pionships, by nine seconds in the 400-yard individual medley with a fin¬ ishing time of 4:15.08, also a NCAA-B cut performance. "It was amazing," Budner said. "I dropped nine seconds on my event. That was awesome." Budner followed it up with a win in the 1,650-yard freestyle Saturday, in which Golden came in fourth and sophomore Kayla Zeller finished sev¬ enth. Budner also broke the CAA record in the 500-yard freestyle See CHAMPS, page 22