It didn't take long for the records to fall in the first day of the Landmark Swimming & Diving Championships. At the end of day one, last year's champions hold the lead through 12 events.
The Susquehanna women jumped out to the early lead winning the first three events. The Crusaders are in first with 245 points and Scranton is in second with 199 points and USMMA is currently in third with 199 points.
Susquehanna's 200 yard freestyle relay made up of Kelsey Lessard, Lexi Cole, Avanti Banks and Kyle Seaman finished first in 1:40.10. Cole followed up with the win in the 500 yard freestyle in 5:09.43, more than five seconds ahead of her competition. Senior Devin Lessard defended her title and broke her own conference record in the 200 IM in 2:08.95. Her younger sister, Kelsey, followed up in second place to boost the Crusaders' advantage. Susquehanna wrapped up the night, winning the 400 medley relay with a conference record time of 4.03.05.
Catholic's Julia Wisler won the 50 yard freestyle in 24.69 seconds. Scranton's Sara Franciscovich finished second in 25.06.
USMMA's Elizabeth Jackson won the 1-meter dive with a pool record score of 346.00 in the finals. Last year's champion, Colleen Barry of Scranton, finished second with a score of 336.40.
On the men's side, the favored USMMA Mariners took the early 103 point lead at the end of day one. The team earned 283 points while Susquehanna has 180 points in second. Scranton is in third with 167 points.
The Mariners started things off with a conference record in the 200 yard freestyle relay. Sean Minor, Alvaro Brice, Kevin Lindgren and Jamie Masterson combined to win the race in 1:23.99. Susquehanna kept things close, finishing second in the relay.
The Academy finished first and second in the 500 yard free with Josh McCormick winning the race in a meet record time of 4:42.81. Jordan Cripe placed second at 4:44.71.
Susquehanna senior Chadd Lee won the 200 IM for the second straight year. He finished with a time of 1:54.28. Teammate Josh Heller defended his title in the 50 freestyle, finishing first for the third straight year, this time in 20.50 seconds. USMMA's Minor and Brice finished second and third respectively.
In the men's 1-meter dive, Timothy McCormick defended his title with a pool record score of 402.75 to win the event. The Academy's three divers William Porter, Sean Higgins and Nicholas Carbonetto finished second, third and fourth respectively.
The Academy set a new meet and pool record in the 400 yard medley relay winning the race in 3:27.17. Susquehanna came in second to hold onto second place overall.
The championships will continue on Saturday with the preliminaries scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
