Cards Return Bulk of Last Year's Top Performers to Provide Reason for Optimism Heading into '09-10

Returning almost every top performer from last year's 10-5 squad, the Cardinals will be led by team co-captains Dan Storms '10 (right in photo) and Ryan Beck '10 (left in photo). Both are keys to the squad's freestyle sprint corps which must make up for the loss of outstanding sprinter Chris Becker '09, who graduated.

Storms ended the 2008-09 season by establishing a Wesleyan record in the 200 free while also making the national "B" cut with a 1:42.47 clocking, good for fourth place in the NESCAC meet. Both Storms and Beck, who had his own national "B" cut with a 1:42.63 in the 200 free, were part of Wesleyan's school record 800-yard free relay effort of 6:55.90.

Other top freestylers include Jeff Arace '12 and Alex Brody '12 in the sprints with Momo Saleh '12 and Mark Ramos '12 anchoring the distance corps.

In the backstroke, Wesleyan has returnees Michael Bailey '11 and Jared Courville '11 to carry the load. Bailey also excels in the individual medley as he set the Wesleyan record of 1:54.95 in the 200 IM, good for all-NESCAC honors with a third-place finish. The butterfly specialists include Kevin McKeown '11, Storms and Courville while the breaststroke is the forte of Kuan Huang '12, along with Saleh and Max Ginsberg '12.

While Wesleyan lost All-America diver Dave Wilkinson '09 to graduation, two top NESCAC performers return in Gianfranco Galluzzo '12 and J.P. Valette '10. Galluzzo earned all-NESCAC honors with thirds on both boards, scoring 454.35 in the one-meter dive and 474.85 in the three-meter dive. He was very close to making a trip to the NCAAs along with Wilkinson. Valette was fifth in the three-meter and sixth in the one-meter dive at NESCACs.

With 16 letterwinners back and the addition of eight newcomers, Wesleyan has the making of another winner in 2009-10. The team has had winning mark six of the last seven years with a .500 record during the lone non-winning campaign in the cluster. Wesleyan inaugurates the 2009-10 season with a trip to Bates Sat., Nov. 21. After that, the squad is home for the rest of the regular season, beginning with a visit from Amherst Mon., Nov. 23.

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