Just two weeks from the Big East Championships, the Syracuse swimming and diving team needed to gain some momentum.

On Saturday, the Orangemen did just that, blowing out Villanova, 142-87, at Webster Pool in their first win since Nov. 2 at Loyola.

After several tough Big East meets, the win was just the boost the Orangemen needed to end their regular season. Syracuse now has 10 days to prepare for the Big East Championships on Long Island.

‘Regardless of what happened in the last couple meets, this is definitely a push in the back, and it’s helping us along,” freshman Ryan Caponera said. “We’re definitely going to feel really good going in.’

Said SU head coach Lou Walker: ‘Each week we’ve gotten a little bit better. The last couple, it wasn’t enough to win the meet. Today, it is.’

On the women’s side, Villanova edged out Syracuse, 133-109. The Orangewomen traded points with the Wildcats before almost pulling ahead with two events left.

The crowd roared as Jen Jonusaitis burst into the lead in the last leg of the 100-yard breaststroke. A first-place finish would have forced the meet to be decided by the final relay, but Olympic finalist Maddy Crippen won by a mere 16 hundredths of a second, clinching the meet for Villanova.

‘We knew it was going to be close,’ Villanova head coach Rick Simpson said. ‘(The Orangewomen) are a lot better than people think that they are. We told our women to expect it to come down to the last relay. It didn’t, but we wouldn’t have been surprised if it did.’

SU has scheduled its training to peak for the Big East meet, so the swimmers expect to be better conditioned Feb. 20.

‘As we look to the Big East,’ Walker said, ‘we can be assured that we’re moving in the direction we want to, and the progression is working. That’s when we’ll be at our best.’

With the Orangemen’s victory and the Orangewomen’s strong performance, Syracuse will have momentum heading into the championships.

‘It’s definitely the kick that we needed,’ Caponera said. ‘As we continue to rest, times are just falling down. We’re going to be a threat at the Big East Championships. We definitely are.’

Published on February 9, 2003 at 12:00 pm