ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) opened the 2016 ECAC Open Swimming and Diving Championships on the campus of the United States Naval Academy on Friday.
The Midshipmen ended the day atop the men’s team standings with 209 points, 60 ahead of rival Army West Point, while Rider University closes Day One in third. On the women’s side, the University of Virginia Cavaliers sit in first following the first day of action with 227 points, with Marist College and the University of Pennsylvania sitting in second and third, respectively.
After preliminary heats in the morning session, the afternoon schedule began with the women’s 1-meter and men’s 3-meter diving competitions.
In the women’s 1-meter, Kirsten Parkinson from the Virginia claimed the gold with a score of 281.65, with Sam Winkelmann from the University of Pittsburgh capturing the silver medal with a combined mark of 267.95. Marist’s Renata Diotalevi took home the bronze after totaling a score of 250.35, a 24-point improvement on her preliminary score.
Marist then posted a one-two finish in the men’s 3-meter dive behind Josh Dodway and Peter Gallino. Dodway garnered the gold with a score of 314.80, while Gallino finished the Red Foxes’ sweep of the podium’s top two places with a silver-medal score of 292.95. Wayco Bailey of Rider rounded out the top three finishers with a score of 290.10 to take the bronze.
In the evening’s swimming portion, the session began with the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay. Virginia captured the win in the event with a time of 1:33.45, just ahead of the “A” team from Penn (1:33.48) taking silver. Army West Point finished in third to claim the bronze, posting a total time of 1:33.64.
In the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay, Army West Point came out with the gold medal with a combined time of 1:20.09, narrowly edging out Rider, who received the silver with a team time of 1:20.84. Binghamton University rounded out the top three, capturing bronze with a combined time of 1:22.52.
In the women’s 500-yard freestyle, the Cavaliers earned a one-two finish behind Samantha James and Jessie Gvozdas. James finished the race with a time of 4:45.90, with teammate Gvozdas close behind with a mark of 4:48.67 to snag the silver. Harvard University’s Claire Pinson took home the bronze, finishing with a time of 4:51.65.
The men’s 500-yard freestyle saw Navy’s Luke Nelson swim to a gold medal in his home pool, turning in a time of 4:25.73 to best a pair of swimmers from UPenn. Bradley Wachenfeld finished in second for the Quakers with a swim of 4:26.87, while teammate Stephen Marcin earned the bronze with a time of 4:28.27.
The meet then progressed to the 200 individual medleys, with medalists of the women’s race all finishing within one second of each other. Virginia once again posted a one-two finish, as Sara Stranick (2:01.84) and Rachel Politi (2:02.50) touched just tenths of a second apart. Harvard’s Valerie Yoshimura finished close behind with a time of 2:02.93.
In the men’s 200 individual medley, Nikola Trajkovic from the University of Maryland – Baltimore County won the gold with a time of 1:48.19. Virginia’s Matheu Martini swam to the silver with a time of 1:49.46, with freshman Vince Everman (1:49.74) close behind to deliver the bronze for the Midshipmen.
In the women’s 50 freestyle, Rochelle Dong from Penn outraced all competitors to capture gold with a mark of :22.73. Dina Rommel from Virginia was close behind with a mark of :22.99 to claim the silver, finishing just ahead of the University of New Hampshire’s Liza Baykova (:23.00)
The men’s 50 freestyle also featured a close finish, with the three podium places separated by just 18 hundredths of a second. Army’s Brandon McCredie claimed the gold with a time of :20.27, just nipping Matthan-Matthew Martir from Rider University (:20.42) and Binghamton’s Brian McKenna (:20.45)
In the women’s 400-yard medley relay, the Cavaliers continued their strong first-night performance, as the Virginia “A” relay team set a new ECAC Open Swimming and Diving Championship meet record with a time of 3:42.93, surpassing the previous mark set by Pitt in 2015. Pitt would finish in second, posting a time of 3:48.11, while the Army West Point Black Knights swam to a third-place finish (3:49.81).
The Black Knights then ended the first day of the championship on a high note, as they posted a combined time of 3:16.25 in the men’s 400-medley relay. Rider University captured the silver with a team time of 3:18.15, with Navy rounding out the podium places with a time of 3:19.88, good for the bronze medal.
The 2016 ECAC Open Swimming and Diving Championships continue on Saturday with preliminary action in the morning, followed by finals in the evening.
Saturday will also feature a groundbreaking demonstration in support of the ECAC’s Inclusive Sport Initiative, as the day’s competition will begin with a 100-yard freestyle featuring adaptive sport athletes. There will also be a 100-yard backstroke featuring adaptive sport athletes in the evening session.