The University of the Incarnate Word men won the 2014 Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday at the University of Tennessee’s Allan Jones Aquatic Center. The Cardinals earned 886 points for its first CCSA Championship title in their first season in the Conference.
UMBC finished in second with 844 points in front of Davidson who totaled 632.5 points. Gardner-Webb took fourth with 473 points, while NJIT earned 211.5 points to finish fifth. VMI took sixth place with 172 points and Howard rounded out the standings with 90 points.
The University of the Incarnate Word’s Connor Hennessy took first in the 1650-free with a CCSA conference and meet record time of 15:33.69. Robert Breen (15.37.29) of UMBC finished second and Dylan Ludwick of Davidson finished third with a time of 15:41.76.
The top three finishers in the 200-back were UIW’s Andrii Nikishenko, who set a CCSA Conference and meet record with a time of 1:43.94, UMBC’s Mohamed Hussein (1:46.86) and teammate Johan Rohtla (1:45.66).
Gregor Spoerlein’s (UMBC) time of 44.44 topped his conference and meet record time set in the 100-free preliminaries, to take first in the event. Alex Brouwer (Incarnate Word) finished second with a time of 44.86 and Lauri Kaei (UMBC) earned third with a time of 45.24.
UIW took the top two spots in the 200-yard breaststoke. Thiago Parravicini broke the Conference and meet record with a time of 1:54.67 and Rostik Fedyna finished second with a time of 1:58.02, both swimmers’ times qualified as NCAA “B” cut times. Leo Endres (2:00.15) rounded out the podium in third.
In the 200-yard butterfly, UIW swept the podium. Evandro Silva of UIW broke the meet record with a mark of 1:47.24 to win the event, while David Moore finished second touching in 1:47.61 and Kaulen Applin finished third with a time of 1:50.28.
The 400-yard freestyle relay was won by UMBC’s team of Hussein, Evan Carey, Lauri Kaei and Spoerlein who set a new Conference and meet record with a time of 2:56.57. Incarnate Word (Daniel Torres, Alex Brouwer, Mehdi El Hazzaz and Silva) finished second touching in 2:56.63, while Davidson (Luke Burton, Cameron Bard, Grant Smith and Brandon Kegley) rounded out the podium spots with a mark of 3:00.93
Moore of UIW won Most Outstanding Freshman of the Meet honors, winning the 200-fly and 400-IM. He set a meet and Conference record in the 200-fly. Moore also added an NCAA “B” cut times in the 200-IM, 400-im and the 200-fly.
Ryan Green of UMBC garnered Men’s Most Outstanding Diver of the Meet. He placed first in the 3-meter dive setting a meet record and qualifying with an NCAA zone score. He added a second place finish in the 1-meter dive.
Evandro Silva from Incarnate Word and Mohamed Hussein shared the Men’s Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet. Silva set meet and conference records in the 200-free and the 200-fly, while also posting three NCAA “B” cut times. Hussein set meet and conference records in the 200-IM and the 200-back, and also added three NCAA “B” cut times.
UMBC head coach Chad Craddock won Male Swimming Coach of the year in the program’s first year in the Conference, while UMBC diving coach Petar Trifonov took home Male Diving Coach of the Year honors.
The Liberty women won the 2014 Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday at the University of Tennessee’s Allan Jones Aquatic Center. The Lady Flames picked up a total of 732.5 points, earning its first CCSA Championship title.
Florida Gulf Coast followed with 718.5 points, while Georgia Southern took third with a score of 423. Davidson placed fourth with 406 points and in fifth with 336 points was University of the Incarnate Word. Gardner-Webb took sixth-place with 284 points, while Campbell followed in seventh with 230 points and North Florida in eighth with 206 points. Radford placed ninth with 109 points and UNC Asheville was 10th with 93 points. Howard took the 11th sport with 86 points and VMI was 12th with 63. Rounding out the field was North Carolina A&T with 32 points.
Florida Gulf Coast’s Lani Cabrera won the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:36.63, while Kylie Warne (Campbell) placed second with a time of 16:47.82 and Kristin VanDeventer (Liberty) finished third with a time of 16:55.28.
The top three finishers in the 200-yard backstroke were FGCU’s Kira Toussaint (1:57.83), who broke the conference and meet record, Liberty’s Emily Duff (1:57.52) and FGCU’s Karen Vilario (1:57.74). All three women qualified for NCAA “B” cuts.
Emma Svensson (FGCU) won the 100-yard freestyle for the second year in a row with a time of 49.77, while Meredith Nakano (Davidson) finished second with a time of 50.52. Coming in third was Liberty’s Meghan Babcock with a time of 50.53.
Liberty’s Emilie Kaufman won the 200-yard breaststroke for the second-consecutive year with a time of 2:12.49 which is a CCSA Conference and meet record. Second place went to Katy Williams (2:14.74) of Davidson, while Kristen Bates (2:17.18) of Georgia Southern finished third.
Jess Reinhardt from Liberty broke the conference and meet record to win the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:56.79. Nina Schiffer from FGCU finished in second-place with mark of 1:58.38, while Elise Lankiewicz finished third, touching the pads in 2:00.47.
Kaliya Burton-Akright won the 3-meter diving competition with a score of 312.15 points, edging Incarnate Word’s Kali Lents who tallied 311.85 points. Kimberly Foster of UIW rounded out the podium in third with 293.80 points.
The Florida Gulf Coast team of Toussaint, Emma Svensson, Sara Hamilton and Christina Tanninen set a Conference and meet record with a time of 3:20.13 in the 400 yard freestyle relay. Davidson (Lankiewicz, Meredith Nakano, Kassie Shannon and Angie Healy) finished second in 3:21.50, while Liberty (Reinhardt, Kendall Hough, Kaufman and Meghan Babcock) touched third with a time of 3:23.66.
Kira Toussaint took home Most Outstanding Freshman Performer and Swimmer of the Meet. She set four Conference and meet records, winning the 200-free, 100-back and the 200-back. Her time in the 100-back qualified for an NCAA “A” cut, while she added a win as the anchor leg of the 200-free relay team that finished first
Kali Lents of Incarnate Word was named CCSA Diver of the meet. She finished first in the 1-meter dive setting a Meet record with 292.70 points and added a second place finish in the 3-meter dive.
Liberty head coach Jake Shellenberger (5th season) won Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year for the second time, while Incarnate Word diving coach Tommy Law took home Women’s Diving Coach of the Year.
