The University of New Hampshire women's swimming & diving team opened its America East title defense by snapping the 800-yard freestyle relay pool record Thursday night at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Sports & Recreation Center.
Binghamton University leads after day one action with 118 points. New Hampshire sits in second, chalking up 114 points. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County ranks third with 98 points, followed by the University of Vermont (89) and the University of Maine (65).
The record-setting quartet of Liza Baykova (Moscow, Russia), Jessica Harper (Easthampton, Mass.), Katie Mann (Prince George, British Columbia) and Oneida Cooper (Johannesburg, South Africa) combined for a first place time of 7 minutes, 20.32 seconds, snagging 40 points in the event.
UNH added a third place finish for 32 points in 200-yard medley relay. The event featured four schools finishing within 70 milliseconds from each other. The squad of Nicole Anderson (Dover, N.H.), Sarah Broderick (Haverhill, Mass.) Harper and Mann clocked in at 1:42.60.
Four Wildcats registered points in the one-meter dive. Reigning America East Diver of the Week Nicole Zahka (Medway, Mass.) led the Wildcats with a seventh place finish with a score of 204.80, earning 13 points. Teammates Savanna Desmarais (Hampton, N.H.) and Hailee Miller (Milton, Mass.) placed behind Zahka by turning in scores of 201.05 and 191.35 respectively to combine for 23 points. Hailey Boulia (Hudson, N.H.) rounded out the scorers for UNH with a mark of 166.05, good for 13th and four points in the event.
Day two of the America East Championships will begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow with the 500-yard freestyle preliminaries. Other events include the 200-yard IM, 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle relay. The finals for the day will start at 6 p.m.
The UMBC women's swimming and diving team sits in third place with 98 points. Binghamton leads the four day event with 116 points.
Two relays were contested on day one of the 2015 America East Championships. The 800 free relay team of Kristie Langford (Port Hope, Ontario/CDCI West),Catherine Frediani (Ellicott City, Md./Howard), Stephanie Romano (Arlington, Va./Yorktown/Towson) and Allie Caulfield (Ellicott City, Md./Mount de Sales) took second in the event with a time of 7:28.94. The New Hampshire quartet of Baykova, Harper, Mann and Cooper took gold, winning by a full eight seconds.
The 200 medley relay team set a new school record with their second place finish in the event on Thursday. Lauren Day (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood), Emily Escobedo(New Rochelle, N.Y./Maria Regina), Amanda Day (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood), and Langford finished in a time of 1:42.49, breaking the previous school best of 1:42.70.
Junior Coco Darelius (Rye, N.Y./Rye) took third in the 1 meter dive, while teammate Emily Fay placed fifth. Coco scored a 246.45 in the prelims, but finished with a 243.85 in the finals. Fay scored a 198.80 in prelims, before improving on that score with a 211.25 in the finals.
Vermont women's swimming and diving set a new UVM varsity record in the 200 medley relay to highlight day one of the America East Championships on Thursday at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Courtney Gray, Shannon Cowley, Andie Blaser and Christa Weaver registered a time of 1:42.97 in the 200-yard medley relay to break the old varsity school record of 1:43.44, which was set by the same four swimmers at the Bucknell Invitational earlier this season.
During the 50-yard backstroke leg of the 200 medley relay, sophomore Courtney Gray broke the WPI pool record with a time of 26.10.
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In the first event of the night, the Catamounts opened with a third-place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Kelly Lennon, Sarah Mantz, Katie Adams and Ilsa Feierabend clocked in at 7:31.94 to earn a spot on the podium.
Junior Maggie Preston was Vermont's top diver on the first night, posting a fourth-place showing with a score of 230.40 in the 1-meter diving event.
Team Rankings After Day 1
1. Binghamton, 116 points
2. New Hampshire, 112
3. UMBC, 98
4. Vermont, 89
5. Maine, 65
The Catamounts continue competition at the championships on Friday (Feb. 13) with preliminary heats starting at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. Watch live video for free at AmericaEast.tv.
