Saint Michael's
Saint Michael's College men's and women's swimming & diving student-athletes posted top-five finishes in six events while another two school records fell on the second day of the three-day New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association (NEISDA) Championship on Saturday at the University of Rhode Island's Tootell Aquatic Center.
The women are securely in fourth place among 21 schools, with their 563.5 points more than 100 ahead of the nearest squad, while the men are fifth out of 12 with 226.5. Closely trailing the Purple Knights are Gordon College (214) and Bridgewater State University (207). The meet concludes on Sunday with 10 a.m. trials and the 5:30 p.m. finals.
Senior Julie Shea (Peabody, Mass./Peabody Veterans Memorial/Assumption) had the Purple and Gold's top finish, taking second in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:06.78, just 0.02 seconds short of her own week-old school record. A pair of standards were surpassed on Saturday, including as first-year Patty Kohn (Weston, Conn./Greenwich) placed fifth in the 1,000-yard freestyle at 11:07.30. That was 3.77 seconds faster than Eileen Mullowney's '12 seven-year-old record.
In the 50-yard butterfly, sophomore Theresa Murphy (Pittsfield, Mass./Pittsfield) twice set a mark, initially clipping junior Lindsay McNall's (Colchester, Vt./Colchester) two-year-old record of 27.88 during prelims before resetting the mark at 27.24 while taking sixth in the finals. First-year Shannon Kelley (Jefferson, Mass./Wachusett Regional) placed eighth in the event, sophomore Coral Santos (Pawtucket, R.I./Saint Raphael Academy) won the B race to take ninth overall, and senior Zoe Doucette (Ashland, Mass./Ashland) tied for 13th. Doucette and Santos both moved up two spots over their prelims finish.
Kohn, Murphy, Shea and first-year Tess Grimaldi (Higganum, Conn./Haddam-Killingworth) took fourth in the 200-yard medley relay at 1:51.67, just 0.30 seconds short of a four-year-old school standard, while Kohn was also fourth in the 100-yard backstroke, in 1:00.81. Sophomore Sammy Sidorakis (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) and senior Luci Franklin (Steamboat Springs, Colo./Lowell Whiteman School) followed in 12th and 15th, respectively. During the 800 free relay, Kohn, Santos, Shea and Sidorakis combined to place sixth in 8:24.94.
On the men's side, first-year Pat Thornton (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence) claimed fourth in the 1,000 free at 10:14.28, while sophomore Spencer Ralston (Hebron, Conn./Cushing Academy) was 13th. Classmate Zach Kosakowski (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) earned fifth during the 100 back at 53.95, sophomore Joe Carroll (Andover, Mass./Andover) took ninth, and senior Chad Phalon (Wantage, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional) was 15th.
The 200 medley relay saw Kosakowski, junior Ryan Butler (Waltham, Mass./Waltham) and first-years Seamus Butler (Waltham, Mass./Waltham) and Ryan Kirkpatrick (Hebron, Conn./RHAM) combine to take sixth in 1:40.94, just 0.06 ticks off of a one-year-old record. Kirkpatrick was seventh in the 50 fly at 24.80, while Ryan Butler, Carroll, Guilmette and Thornton were eighth in the 800 free relay in 7:34.59.
Phalon placed 10th in the 400-yard individual medley by touching the wall in 4:42.99, and junior Sean Glasheen (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) was 15th. Ryan Butler snagged 13th during the 200 free at 1:53.74, while Guilmette took 14th in the 100 breast at 1:04.90. Seamus Butler was 16th in the event, and sophomore Michael May (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall) missed qualifying for the consolation final by 0.51 seconds during the morning prelims.
