Swimcloud

Capital Athletic Conference Recaps: Day 1

St. Mary's (Md.) Men

The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's swim team opened up the 2014 Capital Athletic Conference Men's Swimming Championship on Friday. The Seahawks currently stand third in the six-team standings with 137 points.

The three-day event will wrap up on Sunday, February 23rd with the crowning of the team champion. The University of Mary Washington is pursuing its 20th overall (14th consecutive) conference championship title as the Eagles are currently first in the team standings after claiming gold in all five events.

Senior captain Jimmy Forest (Columbia, Md./Atholton) picked up all-conference honors in the 200 individual medley as Forest placed second in 1:55.73. Junior Bobby Witkop (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) garnered a fifth-place finish in the same event in 2:00.37, improving his preliminary finish by one spot.

St. Mary's came in third in the 400 medley relay in 3:33.59 as Forest, senior captain Thor Petersen (Germantown, Md./Northwest), Witkop, and sophomore Michael Speer (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) took all-conference honors in the event.

Sophomore Grant Burgess (Fallston, Md./Fallston) led St. Mary's in the 500 freestyle with a fourth-place finish in 4:48.37, a one-spot improvement from this morning's preliminaries. First-year Matt Walchuck (Middletown, Md./Middletown) picked up a fifth-place finish, coming in 44-hundredths of a second after Burgess, while senior Jon Sheldon (Prince Frederick, Md./Huntingtown) placed 13th (4:59.04).

The Seahawks earned a fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay (1:27.87) behind the efforts of sophomore Zach Lilley (Myersville, Md./Middletown), Forest, Speer, and Petersen.

Lilley claimed an 11th-place finish in the 50 freestyle in 22.14 to lead the team while Speer was next just four-hundredths of a second after Lilley for 12th.


Salisbury
The Salisbury University men and women's swimming teams concluded the first day of the Capital Athletic Conference Swimming Championships breaking two records and finishing in the top three in two of the 10 events. 

Early in the day during preliminaries, freshman Victoria Radcliffe and sophomore Will Gough both broke school records in the 200-yard individual medley and the 50-yard freestyle, respectively. Racing in the finals Friday night, the freshman and sophomore broke the records again. 

Radcliffe finished with a seventh-place qualifier in the preliminary with a time of 2:13.51. With that time, she broke a 13-year-old record by over a full second set by SU alum Rebecca Mitchell in 2001. In the finals for the 200-yard IM, the Ellicott City, Md., native shaved more time off, marking a new record with a time of 2:12.94. Radcliffe finished the event in sixth place. 

Gough qualified third in the 50-yard freestyle preliminary with a time of 21.42, a time good enough to break the school record set in 2008 by Cole Magnum by .01 seconds. The Ellicott City, Md., native would race for a faster time in the finals Friday night, breaking his own record with a time of 21.32. The sophomore made his way up the podium for bronze medal. 

In the same race, senior Chris Franklin would claim eighth place with a time of 22:11. 

Senior James Gough qualified seventh early in the day in the 500-yard freestyle preliminary with a time of 4:53.43. Racing in the finals, Gough would move up a spot with a sixth-place finish for the championship, carving two seconds off his preliminary race for a time of 4:51.46. 

The men's squad would finish highest on the day in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as Franklin, juniorRich Ambrose, and sophomores Jake Blazer and Will Gough would claim silver after racing for a time of 1:26.36 in the final. The foursome fell short of the gold by just under three seconds. 

The women's squad recorded a fourth-place finish to conclude the day in the 400-yard medley relay. Freshmen Maggie Deering, Layne Gable and Radcliffe and sophomore Nicki Schult raced for a time of 4:15.36. 

The men would grab a fourth-place finish, as well, in the 400-yard medley relay. Franklin, Will Gough, and freshmen Okan Eyigor and Travis Maida swam for a time of 3:37.72. 

At the end of day one, both the men and women are placed fifth in the team rankings with 114.5 and 89 points, respectively. The University of Mary Washington sits atop the rankings for men and women at the end of the first 10 finals. 

Day two of the CAC Swimming Championships starts up Saturday at 10 a.m., with preliminaries taking place in the morning followed by the finals at 6 p.m. 

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