St. Mary's (Md.) Men
The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's swim team continued action at the 2015 Capital Athletic Conference Men's Swimming Championship with Day 2 and remain fourth in the six-team field with 262 points.
The three-day event will wrap up on tomorrow with the crowning of the team champion. The University of Mary Washington Eagles is pursuing its 21st overall (15th consecutive) conference championship title and holds the No. 1 spot in the team standings with 631 after claiming gold in four of seven events.
The foursome of juniors Grant Burgess (Fallston, Md./Fallston) and Michael Speer (Springfield, Va./West Springfield), senior captain Bobby Witkop (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase), and sophomore Matt Walchuck (Middletown, Md./Middletown) picked up the Seahawks' highest finish of the night in the 800 freestyle relay, finishing third in 7:09.11.
Burgess then notched a fourth-place finish in the 400 individual medley in 4:16.09 – the second fastest time in the program history. First-year Max Madden (Cape St. Clair, Md./Broadneck) took sixth in 4:21.25 while senior Nathan Brocenos (Laurel, Md./Reservoir) finished second in the consolation finals for 10th overall in 4:39.26.
St. Mary's gained a fifth-place finish in the 200 medley relay in 1:39.74 behind the efforts of junior Zach Lilley (Myersville, Md./Middletown), first-year Kieran Broder (Olney, Md./Georgetown Prep), Witkop, and Speer.
Walchuck added a sixth-place finish in the 200 freestyle with the program's fourth-fastest time with a time of 1:45.48. During the morning preliminaries, he tallied the program's third-fastest time with a time of 1:44.60.
Witkop placed eighth in the 100 butterfly in 53.86 while junior Kian Karimi (Kensington, Md./Walter Johnson) was third in the consolation finals for 11th overall in 54.44. Senior captain Ryan Reis (Frederick, Md./Quince Orchard) claimed a 15th-place finish in 57.21.
Lilley led the Seahawks in the 100 backstroke with an eighth-place finish in 55.67 while Broder went 1:02.37 in the consolation finals of the 100 breaststroke for 11th overall. Junior Michael Abrams (Garrett Park, Md./Walter Johnson) also scored for St. Mary's with a 15th-place finish in 1:04.67.
TEAM STANDINGS (through Event 24): 1. Mary Washington, 631 … 2. York (Pa.), 366 … 3. Salisbury, 287 … 4. St. Mary's, 262 … 5. Marymount (Va.), 245 … 6. Frostburg State, 151
St. Mary's (Md.) Women
Senior captain Brooke Raab (Parkton, Md./Hereford) captured the 100 breaststroke title and two school records fell on Saturday as the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's swim team continued action at the 2015 Capital Athletic Conference Swimming Championships.
St. Mary's is currently third in the team standings with 309 points through Event 24. The Seahawks find themselves 27 points behind second-place Marymount (Va.) University with six more events to go.
The three-day championship meet event will wrap up tomorrow with the crowning of the team champion. The University of Mary Washington Eagles is in search of their 25th consecutive conference championship title and tops the standings with 624 points after capturing all but one of tonight's seven events.
Before grabbing the gold medal in the 100 breaststroke, Raab reset her own school record in the event with a time of 1:05.96 in the morning's preliminary swim and earned her top seed in the evening's finals. She broke her own mark of 1:07.05 from just two months ago. She then won the event in 1:06.51, beating Mary Washington's senior Alex Parrish by 41-hundredths of a second.
Junior Zoe McIlmail (Frederick, Md./Urbana) also improved upon her school record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:56.63 in the morning preliminaries, besting her old mark by 32-hundredths of a second. McIlmail then picked up a sixth-place finish in the finals in 1:56.88. First-year Elizabeth Straathof (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) was eighth in the same event with a time of 2:00.04.
St. Mary's notched a second-place finish in the 800 freestyle relay in 7:56.64 behind the efforts of junior Cara Machlin (Rockville, Md./Walter Johnson), senior Hannah Hafey (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley), Raab, and McIlmail.
Raab added a third-place finish to her night as she touched the wall in 4:37.23 in the 400 individual medley while senior captain Elaina Kohles (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll) joined Raab on the podium with a fifth-place finish in 4:40.67.
The foursome of juniors Karlie Straight (Ocean City, Md./Decatur) and Katie Andersen (Clarksville, Md./River Hill), Machlin, and first-year Elizabeth Straathof (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) notched a sixth-place finish in the 200 medley relay in 1:58.17.
Hafey tallied a sixth-place finish in the 100 backstroke in 1:01.65 while Straight went 1:05.06 for sixth (14th overall) in the consolation final. Senior captain Kelsey Abernathy (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) recorded the team's highest finish in the 100 butterfly, placing 12th in 1:03.04, while first-year Rachel Sonnenberg (Derwood, Md./Magruder) came in 13th in 1:04.16.
TEAM STANDINGS (through Event 24): 1. Mary Washington, 624 … 2. Marymount, 336 … 3. St. Mary's, 309 … 4. Salisbury, 299 … 5. York (Pa.), 240 … 6. Frostburg State, 177
Salisbury
Day two of the Capital Athletic Conference Swimming Championships was another successful day for the Salisbury University men's and women's swimming teams, as seven school records were broken, including a top finish by junior Will Gough.
In the preliminaries, Gough grabbed a spot in the final for the men's 200-yard freestyle, taking sixth and racing to a time of 1:46.09. In the finals, Gough picked up Salisbury's first win of the CAC Championships this year, taking first in a time of 1:43.07. Gough set a new school record with his time, breaking Paul Zoli's 1:43.51 mark from 2012.
Freshman Conor Johnston broke the school record in the preliminaries for the 400-yard individual medley, qualifying third and swimming to a time of 4:19.46, surpassing Brendan Roddy's record from 1999. In the finals for the event, Johnston broke his own school record by almost four seconds, touching the wall at 4:15.70 for third place.
In the same event, sophomore Travis Maida finished seventh in 4:23.96, while senior Philip Kuldell took 12th in 4:44.63 and junior Mallen Figueroa had a 13th-place finish, touching the wall at 4:50.68.
In the preliminaries for the women's 100-yard butterfly, freshman Bizu Baldinazzo broke a five-year-old record previously held by Katy Turner when she touched the wall at 1:00.71. Baldinazzo qualified fifth. In the finals, Baldinazzo improved her time, breaking her own school record and finishing in a time of 1:00.21; she placed fourth in the event.
In the same event, sophomore Nicole Marders qualified sixth and recorded a time of 1:00.83. Marders cut her time by .49 seconds in the final and finished sixth in a time of 1:00.34, which is currently second in the school record books.
Sophomore Okan Eyigor broke his own school record in the preliminaries for the 100-yard butterfly that he set in 2014, touching the wall at 51.83 seconds to qualify for the final. The Istanbul, Turkey native broke his own school record again in the finals, notching a time of 51.49 seconds, which was good for fourth place.
Senior Daniel Keller grabbed fifth in the same event and recorded a time of 52.67 seconds.
In the women's 200-yard freestyle preliminaries, sophomore Victoria Radcliffe just missed a school record set by Rebecca Mitchell in 2001, but qualified for the final, and notching a time of 1:56.62. In the finals, Radcliffe would break Mitchell's school record and capture a second-place finish, touching the wall at 1:55.36.
In the women's 200-yard medley relay final, the team of Marders, Racliffe, Gable and Baldinazzo broke a school record that was set in 2012, finishing the race in 1:53.42 for third place.
Eyigor, Gough, Keller and Blazer broke a three-year-old school record in the men's 200-yard medley relay final, taking third in a time of 1:36.18.
In the women's 100-yard backstroke, Baldinazzo captured a fifth-place finish and recorded a time of 1:01.00, while Eyigor grabbed fourth place in the men's 100-yard backstroke and swam with a time of 52.34 seconds.
In the women's 400-yard individual medley finals, junior Nicki Schult finished in seventh place with a time of 4:53.00, while sophomore Claudia Guay placed ninth with a time of 5:04.02.
The men now sit in third place with 287 points, jumping up two spots from yesterday, while the women remain in fourth with a total of 299 points. The CAC Swimming Championships will conclude tomorrow, with the preliminaries beginning at 10 a.m. and the finals starting at 5:30 p.m.
