For the second straight night, UMBC senior Mohamed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College) captured a gold medal and bettered his NCAA "B" cut time, this time in the 100 fly on Saturday night on Day Two of the ECAC Championships at the U.S. Naval Academy's Lejeune Hall.
Hussein reset his own school record in the event during the morning prelims by recording the top time of the session, touching the wall at 47.88. The time bested his previous school record and NCAA "B" cut of 48.07 set last week of the CCSA Championships in Knoxville, Tenn. Then at night, Hussein topped the field and improved his time further, touching the wall at 47.79 to claim gold.
The senior is looking to become the first Retriever swimmer to reach the NCAA Championships twice. Last year, he swam in Indianapolis, resetting school records in each of his three events and becoming the first Retriever male, and third overall, to advance to the national meet.
Freshman Gregor Sporlein (Bamberg, Germany/Clavius-Gymnasium), who won the 50-yd. free last night, set a career-best in the prelims (50.19), and then finished 13th overall at night with a time of 50.33. Junior Mark Tracy (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford), meanwhile, advanced to the night "B" final by touching at 50.98, and then placed 16th at night (51.29).
In the 200-yd. freestyle, senior Brian Keane (Hanson, Mass./Boston College HS/Arizona) posted a career-best time of 1:40.48 in the morning prelims, the third-best of the session. Keane nearly equaled his effort at night, touching the wall in fifth-place with a time of 1:40.53.
Senior Klara Pavelkova (Prague, Czech Republic/Gymnasium Pripotocni) competed in the 100 back for the Retrievers, dropping .13 from her previous season-best to touch in at 55.38. She finished in fifth in the nighttime finals with a time of 55.42.
The ECAC Championships continue on Sunday morning, beginning with the 1650-yd freestyle. The finals of the events will commence at 4:00 p.m.
New Hampshire
Junior Katie Mann (Prince George, British Columbia) and senior Jenni Roberts (Springvale, Maine) both snapped ECAC records during the second day of the ECAC Championships, hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy at Lejeune Hall Saturday.
Mann successfully defended her title in the 400-yard IM. The junior trumped her 2013 ECAC record of 4 minutes, 11.18 seconds with a NCAA provisional cut and personal-best time of 4:09.40 to earn gold in the event. Mann's new ECAC record currently ranks 22nd in Division I. Junior Oneida Cooper (Johannesburg, South Africa) also partook in the event. Cooper registered a fifth place finish with a time of 4:24.07.
Roberts registered her second first place finish of the meet, garnering a new ECAC record in the 200-yard freestyle. The senior blazed through the water to touch the wall at 1:48.50 for the first place finish, shaving off 10 hundredths of a second for a new career-best.
Senior Lauren McCandless (Macungie, Pa.) and junior Allison Morales (Santa Clarita, Calif.) competed in the 100-yard butterfly. McCandless headlined the Wildcats with a sixth place finish, clocking in at 54.97. Morales registered a time of 56.09 to rank 12th out of the field of 38 participants.
Sophomore Bettina Caspersen (Lyngby, Denmark) logged a top-five finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Caspersen finished fifth in a field of 28 swimmers with a career-best time of 1:03.80.
The Wildcats conclude their time at the ECAC Championships on Sunday, March 2. The preliminary heats start at 9 a.m followed by the final events at 4 p.m.
