UMBC
UMBC senior Mohamed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College) won the 200-yd. IM and broke his own school record while freshman Gregor Sporelin (Bamberg, Germany/Clavius-Gymnasium) captured the 50-yd. freestyle event on Day One of the ECAC Championships, Friday night at the U.S. Naval Academy's Lejeune Hall.
Looking to reach the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year, Hussein bettered his school record and NCAA "B" cut time from 1:44.44 to 1:44.40 Friday morning, for the top time of the prelim round. At night, the senior bested the field and himself once again, taking the title with a new top time of 1:44.14. The mark also beats out the ECAC Championships mark of 1:44.60 set by Hussein last year at Harvard.
Last year, Hussein became the first Retriever male athlete, and third overall, to reach the national meet. If he can advance this season, he would become the first UMBC swimmer to reach the national stage twice.
In the morning session, freshman Steven Rigby (Bowie, Md./Bowie) recorded a career-best swim of 1:59.19 in the 200 IM event.
A week after setting the school record in the 50-yd. free (20.29) at the CCSA Championships, Sporlein took the top spot in the event at the Naval Academy to win gold. The rookie placed third in the morning session, touching in at 20.91, but outdid the field in the finals by finishing at the 20.41 mark.
Senior Brian Keane (Hanson, Mass./Boston College HS/Arizona) also swam in the short sprint event, finishing with a time of 21.90.
Freshman Austin Moore (Takoma Park, Md./Northwood) competed in the prelims of the 500-yd. freestyle, completing his swim with a time of 4:51.28.
New Hampshire
Senior Jenni Roberts (Springvale, Maine) and junior Oneida Cooper (Johannesburg, South Africa) earned provisional cuts in the 200-yard IM, highlighting the University of New Hampshire women's swimming & diving team after day one of the ECAC Championships, hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy at Lejeune Hall Friday.
UNH garnered a first place finish as well as a pair of second place rankings in the first day of competition. The Wildcats registered 90 points to rank fifth in the field.
New Hampshire seized the top two spots on the podium on the 200-yard IM. Furthermore, the Wildcat tandem were the only two in the event to earn NCAA provisional cuts. Roberts retained her title from last year, clocking in at 2 minutes, .24 seconds to claim gold and 20 points. Cooper was 13 hundredths of a second off the pace to register a time of 2:02.37 for second (17 points). Classmate Allison Morales (Santa Clarita, Calif.) notched a seventh place finish (12 points), touching the wall at 2:07.80.
Junior Katie Mann (Prince George, British Columbia) and senior Lauren McCandless (Macungie, Pa.) competed in the 500-yard freestyle. Mann earned a runner-up finish, blazing through the water to earn with a time of 4:51.81 (17 points). McCandless tallied a fourth place mark (15 points) in the finals heat with a time of 4:57.47.
Sophomore Bettina Caspersen (Lyngby, Denmark) participated in the 50-yard freestyle race. After a 24.36 time in the preliminary heat, the sophomore was ranked in the 'B' group for the finals race. Caspersen paced the group in the afternoon dash to earn ninth overall (nine points), clocking in at 23.98. The sophomore's time was the sixth fastest time in the field of 30 participants.
Day two of the three-day meet begins Saturday with the preliminaries at 10 a.m., followed by the finals at 6 p.m.
