The Massachusetts men and Richmond women captured the 2016 Atlantic 10 Swimming and Diving Championship titles at the SPIRE Institute Saturday.
The victory marks the Minutemen’s second consecutive A-10 men’s championship and third in the last five years. UMass, who finished with 671 points, held the lead after every day of competition. The Minutemen got off to a good start Saturday evening thanks to Alessandro Bomprezzi and Kyle Vieira taking gold and bronze, respectively, in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
St. Bonaventure finished in second with 482 points on the men’s side. UMass and St. Bonaventure were followed by La Salle (473.5), Saint Louis (457.5), George Washington (398), George Mason (396), Davidson (371) and Fordham (272.5).
George Washington’s junior Andrea Bolognesi was honored as the Men’s Most Outstanding Performer after recording first-place finishes and setting A-10 records in the 100-yard breaststroke (52.44), the 100-yard butterfly (47.18) and the 200-yard IM (1:46.54). He was also a member of the silver-medal winning 400-yard medley relay, the bronze-medal winning 200-yard medley relay and the fifth-place 200-yard freestyle relay teams
UMass’ Kellen Gray and Trent Kindvall were named Men’s Most Outstanding Rookie and Most Outstanding Diver, respectively. Gray finished fourth in the 100-yard backstroke and fifth in the 200-yard backstroke. The Minutemen’s Trent Kindvall was honored as the Most Outstanding Diver after finishing first in the 3-meter dive with a score of 290.75. He also recorded a third-place finish in the 1-meter dive with a score of 285.90.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Fordham senior Steve Sholdra set an A-10 record with an NCAA “B” qualifying time of 1:47.10. Saint Louis’ 400-yard freestyle relay team took gold, as did Michael Pilyugin in the 200-yard backstroke, Ryan McCoy in the 100-yard freestyle and Johan Roth in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Massachusetts’ Russ Yarworth and Mandy Hixon were named the A-10 Coach of the Year and Diving Coach of the Year, respectively.
For Richmond, the title marks the Spiders’ sixth consecutive A-10 crown and 14th in the last 15 years. The Spiders led after every day of competition, and finished with a total of 653.5 points. Richmond started the evening off strong with a bronze-medal performance in the 1,650-yard freestyle by freshman Nicole Piercy (16.56.17), which helped her earn Women’s Most Outstanding Rookie. They also got a gold medal in 3-meter diving from Irina Chiulli (303.30).
Duquesne University finished in second-place with 487 points, after Sam Ray set an A-10 record in the 100-yard freestyle (49.47). The Women’s Most Outstanding Performer, Elise Lankiewicz, led Davidson to a third-place finish with 466 points. She recorded first-place in the 1,650-yard freestyle (16.39.65), the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.92) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:44.88).
Trailing Richmond, Duquesne and Davidson in the final standings were Massachusetts (397), Fordham (392), George Mason (345), Rhode Island (204), La Salle (198), George Washington (197), St. Bonaventure (187) and Saint Louis (172.5).
Fordham’s Megan Polaha set an A-10 record in the 200-yard butterfly (1:58.46) and Davidson’s 400-yard freestyle relay also set an A-10 record (3:19.65). Other winners were Duquesne’s Lexi Santer in the 200-yard backstroke and Davidson’s Katy Williams in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Massachusetts’ Emma Roush was honored as the Women’s Most Outstanding Diver after finishing first in the 1-meter dive (290.80) and third in the 3-meter dive with a score of 266.85.
Matt Barany and Sean Letsinger of Richmond won Women’s Coach of the Year and Diving Coach of the Year, respectively.
2016 A-10 Men’s Swimming & Diving Awards
Most Outstanding Performer: Andrea Bolognesi, George Washington
Most Outstanding Rookie Performer: Kellen Gray, Massachusetts
Most Outstanding Diver: Trent Kindvall, Massachusetts
Coach of the Year: Russ Yarworth, Massachusetts
Diving Coach of the Year: Mandy Hixon, Massachusetts
2016 A-10 Women’s Swimming & Diving Awards
Most Outstanding Performer: Elise Lankiewicz, Davidson
Most Outstanding Rookie Performer: Nicole Piercy, Richmond
Most Outstanding Diver: Emma Roush, Massachusetts
Coach of the Year: Matt Barany, Richmond
Diving Coach of the Year: Sean Letsinger, Richmond
George Washington Men
After setting conference records in all three of his individual events, GW swimming and diving's junior Andrea Bolognesi took home the Atlantic 10 Championships Most Outstanding Performer award on Saturday night to close the four-day meet at the SPIRE Institute.
The Colonials took fifth place in the meet with 398 points under the direction of first-year head coach James Winchester, as Massachusetts won the Championships with 671 points followed by St. Bonaventure (482), La Salle (473.5) and Saint Louis (457.5). GW finished ahead of George Mason (396), Davidson (371) and Fordham (165) to stage a significant improvement from the squad's seventh-place finish a year ago.
"The team did a fantastic job this week," said Winchester. "We had a lot of ups and had some downs, and that's just how championship meets go. I was really impressed with the resiliency of our program. These student-athletes have given us a great stepping stone for where we want our program to be in the next few years."
On the final day of competition, the Colonials set two more program marks to bring the week total to nine new GW records set at the A-10 Championships.
Senior Oliver Keegan posted a record-breaking performance in the 200-yard butterfly preliminary with a time of 1:48.09 to earn a spot in the Championship final, where he went on to earn a bronze medal (1:48.28).
In the final event of the meet, Bolognesi teamed up with sophomores Adam Drury and Gustav Hokfelt and freshman Patrick Lersch to set a program record in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:00.60 to take fourth place.
Hokfelt appeared in the Championship final of the 200-yard backstroke after posting a personal-best in 1:46.93 in the preliminary; Hokfelt went on to take sixth overall (1:47.09).
Drury also competed in the evening session, taking seventh overall int he 100-yard free (45.50).
Junior Ben Fitch and freshman Josh Monacelli appeared in the consolation finals of the 200-yard fly and 200-yard breaststroke, respectively. Fitch won his heat to take ninth-place overall (1:50.29) and Monacelli, in his third consolation final of the meet, grabbed 11th overall with a personal-best time of 2:04.23 to break into GW's all-time list at the seventh spot.
Bolognesi took home top honors, receiving the Most Outstanding Performer award after a stellar performance throughout the week, setting A-10 and GW records in the 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly and 100 breaststroke - all in NCAA 'B' cut times. Of GW's nine program records set at the Championships, Bolognesi had a hand in seven of them and is the first Colonial to earn Most Outstanding Performer since David Zenk in 2009.
"Andrea is defintely very deserving of this award," said Winchester. "He put together a fantastic championship performance. To come into the conference and to set three conference records in one meet, and especially to set two of them within the same day twice, is quite unheard of, so its definitely a very special performance that's very worthy of becoming A-10 Most Outstanding Performer."
While team competition for the Colonials is complete, Winchester looks forward to the possibility of an NCAA Championship invitation for Bolognesi - whose three 'B' cut times give him the eligibly to be selected.
"It was definitely a great first A-10 Championships for our staff," said Winchester. "I'm really appreciative of the support this week from our parents, they did a fantastic job up the crowd representing our program and keep our student-athletes motivated. We'll now be looking forward toward potentially participating at the NCAA Championships in a couple of weeks."
George Washington Women
The George Washington women's swimming and diving team wrapped the four-day 2016 Atlantic 10 Championships on Saturday evening at the SPIRE Institute to finish in ninth place - two places higher than a year ago under the direction of first-year head coach James Winchester.
The Colonials dramatically improved on last year's performance, tallying 197 total points compared to 99 in 2015's 11th-place finish. Richmond won the meet for the 14th time in the last 15 years with 653.5 points, followed by Duquesne (487), Davidson (466), Massachusetts (397), Fordham (392), George Mason (345), Rhode Island (204) and La Salle (198). GW finished ahead of St. Bonaventure (187) and Saint Louis (172.5) to round out the field of 11.
"From last year the women moved up two spots, doubled their point margin, set a bunch of school records, especially in the relays, and reset a bunch of top 10 times as well," said Winchester. "To say that our women are making progress is an understatement. Really, a lot of credit has to go our senior class for laying the expectations in place and laying the culture in place."
Saturday was marked by a plethora of personal-bests. Senior Hannah Schaefer posted a career-best mark in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:12.98 to take ninth in the event and slide into eighth on GW's all-time list.
Freshmen Isobel Walker and Caroline Racke posted career-bests in the 100-yard freestyle preliminaries, posting times of 54.19 and 54.51, respectively. Sophomore Hannah Kopydlowski followed suit, posting a personal-best 52.45 in the same event to rank ninth on GW's all-time list.
In the 200-yard breaststroke, senior Lauren Steagall improved her career-best to 2:22.91 to break into GW's all-time list at the 10th slot.
Freshman Miranda Simon and sophomore Iman Lee competed for the Colonials on the boards in the 3-meter dive preliminaries. Lee posted a nearly 20-point increase in score from her 2015 results in the diving program's second season after being reinstated.
In the evening session, freshman Emily Zhang, sophomores Abigail Fusco and Hannah Kopydlowski and junior Lauren Law posted a seventh-place effort in the 400-yard free relay (3:26.19) to close the meet.
"What really impressed me this week was the total team effort," said Winchester. "We had inspiring performances from every corner of the team, and those performances really did make the difference."
GW set five program records throughout the meet, including two individual performances and three relays to highlight a strong week of competition.
The Colonials will graduate seniors Mara Debnekoff, Emma Gaquin, Maggie Hofstadter, Madison Reinker, Hannah Schaefer, Lauren Steagall and Kally Vanderbilt.
"This team and our seniors have helped give us a stepping stone toward where we want our program to be in the next few years," said Winchester. "I'm also really appreciative of the support this week from our parents, they did a fantastic job up the crowd representing our program and keeping our student-athletes motivated. It was a great first A-10 meet."
UMass Men
A dominating performance from start to finish earned the UMass men’s swimming and diving team the 2016 Atlantic 10 Championship title after the final day of competition on Saturday at the SPIRE Institute. For the Minutemen, this marked the 16th overall title in program history extending their league record for both swimming and all sports sponsored by the conference. It was also the second consecutive year UMass won the A-10 Championship meet.
Russ Yarworth was named the Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year for the 14th time in his career, while Mandy Hixon was named the Men’s Diving Coach of the Year for the sixth time. Kellen Gray was named the Most Outstanding Rookie and Trent Kindvall was named the Most Outstanding Diver.
Overall depth for the Minutemen was key over the previous three days, but came on full display Saturday. UMass placed four point scorers in 1,650 freestyle to start the meet effectively putting the Minutemen out of reach of the to other competitors. Another five point scorers in the 200 back and three more in the 100 free sealed the win as UMass cruised down the stretch.
Alessandro Bomprezzi won the 1,650 free to match his A-10 title earlier in the week for the 500 free. His time of 15 minutes, 15.61 seconds was just shy of his previously set school record and was an NCAA ‘B’ qualification.
Also posting a NCAA ‘B’ qualification was Oliver Wyeth whose fourth-place time of 1-minute, 45.33 seconds in the 200 back also set a new UMass record. Right behind in fifth-place was Gray whose time of 1-minute, 45.33 seconds was also a NCAA ‘B’ qualification and the second fastest mark in school history.
Behind Bomprezzi in the 1,650 free, was Kyle Vieira in third place, Joe Woodman in fifth place, and Evan Sholudko in 11th place.
Joining Wyeth and Gray in the 200 back were Ian Wilson(ninth), Heath Maginn (10th) and Evan Sholudko (15th).
In the 100 free finals, Brian Stiles swam the second-fastest time in program history en route to a second place finish. He clocked 44.68 seconds in the finals, but was just a split second faster in the prelims at 44.65 seconds. He was joined on the awards podium by Owen Wright who took third in the event. Wiktor Karpinski added points by winning the consolation final and placing ninth overall.
The individual events were closed out with a seventh-place finish from Tommy Brennan in the 200 fly along with an 11th-place mark from Ben Sloan.
The final event of the meet was an exciting, neck-and-neck 400 free relay that saw the Minutemen take second as four-different teams reached to touch the wall with just the narrowest of margins separating the relays squads.
UMass Women
A tremendous comeback after a tough opening day saw the UMass women’s swimming and diving team take fourth-place overall as the Atlantic 10 Championships concluded on Saturday night at the SPIRE Institute. The Minutewomen finished the four-day meet with a total of 397 points.
Richmond won the overall team title with 653.5 points. After a disqualification in the final relay of Wednesday night placed the Mintuewomen 11th, UMass fought back over the last three days with several strong performances to move into fifth on Thursday, fourth on Friday and maintain the position during Saturday’s finale.
The Minutewomen were led on Saturday by the trio of divers who took second, third and fourth place on the three-meter board. Katie Polk turned in the ninth-best score in program history (286.25 points) to finish second. Emma Roush placed third and Julai Jagannath took fourth place.
The third place finish on Saturday combined with her win on the one-meter board earlier in the week earned Roush the Women’s Most Outstanding Diver honor as voted on by the Atlantic 10 coaches.
Saturday started with Steph Campo turning in the second fastest time in UMass history with a fifth-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle (17:03.69). She was followed by Katie Orr who’s time of 17:14.11 was the sixth-fastest time in program history and placed her 12th overall.
Other point scorers for the Minutewomen included Rebecca Quirie in the 200 back (13th place) and Meriza Werenskiin the 200 breast (10th place). Ansley Baker placed 11th in the 100 free style with a time of 51.67 seconds. Her time of 51.54 seconds in the prelims moved her into fifth all-time at UMass.
The night ended with the 400 free relay team placing sixth with a time of 3 minutes, 25.88 seconds.
