Fordham women work hard for A-10 swimming title

It was on a training trip to Puerto Rico during Christmas break that Kelly Bunster first noticed something different about Fordham's women's swimming team. The 10-day trip was exhausting: four-hour practices every day in a 50-meter pool instead of a 25-yard pool to help with endurance.

"But everyone stepped up and did a lot of hard work," said Bunster, a sophomore from Bohemia who attended Connetquot High School. "We had great attitudes and were really united as a team. I knew we were going to have a great championship meet."

After being picked No. 1 in the preseason coaches' poll, the team lived up to the challenge, culminating an undefeated dual-meet season Feb. 20 in Buffalo with Fordham's first women's Atlantic 10 championship in any sport. Fordham finished first with a score of 676, beating rival Richmond (596), which was second.

Bunster was named first team All-Atlantic 10 for the 800-yard freestyle relay and 200 medley relay and second team for the 400 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. Caitlin Napoli, a Hauppauge resident who went to St. Anthony's, was named first team in the 500 freestyle and 800 freestyle and second team for the 200 freestyle, 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay.

Napoli, a senior captain, said the team tried to temper expectations.

"We try not to make a big deal about winning," she said. "We try to make it about swimming our best, being great teammates and working hard. If we do that, things will take care of themselves."

But after a year in which the Rams were 12-0 in dual meets, Bunster said the attitude was different when they arrived for the Atlantic 10 championships, particularly as it related to Richmond.

"Last year as a freshman, I remember seeing their team and they won by over 200 points," she said. "There was no battle for first, it was who's going to get second. Honestly, they were kind of intimidating. But this year, I think we were the ones staring them down."

The tone was set on the first of the four nights as Fordham placed first in the 200 medley relay (1:40.89), setting a school record that was also the second-best time in Atlantic 10 history.

Richmond tied Fordham after the 100 freestyle on Day 4, but the Rams snatched the lead back after the 200 breaststroke. By the time Bunster and Napoli took to the pool for the 400 freestyle relay, Fordham's victory was assured.

"A lot of people came up to me before the relay and said, 'We did it! We did it!' and I said, 'Don't say that to me,' " Napoli said. "I couldn't wrap that around my mind at that point of the meet. I didn't want to jinx anything."

The team finished second in a school-record time of 3:23.72.

"Swimming is not the most popular sport," Napoli said. "And to be able to show our school and other teams that we're a force to be reckoned with is more than any student-athlete could ever ask for."