2015 CAA Swimming & Diving Championships: Day 3 Finals Real-Time Recaps

2015 Colonial Athletic Association Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships

• February 25th-28th, 2015
• Richmond, Virginia
• Defending Champions: Towson (women), UNC-Wilmington (men)
• Live Diving results.
• Live Swimming results.
• Championship Central (with live video links).

With some great swims this morning, the Towson women and William & Mary men look to cement the leads they established after the first full day of swimming.  But with a relatively shallow meet, every school will have swimmers with evening swims.  Every W&M male swimmer who swam this morning made one of the two evening finals.  Delaware senior Timothy Ware set a new meet record in the 100 back this morning, but the previous record holder, the Tribe’s Will Manion, has the second seed, setting up what could the race of the evening.

Women’s 400 IM – Finals

The Towson women started off the night by going 1-2 in this event.  Hannah Synder and Christine Hammond were within .05 of each other at the end of the breaststroke, but Hammond established her lead in the final 100 to take the win, 4:16.60 to 4:16.66.  Delaware Madeline Maher was also close at the 300, but faded a little bit to finish in 4:18.74.  Fourth was another Towswon swimmer, Seana Acker, in 4:20.65.  Fifth place went to UNCW’s Kelsey Moore (4:23.65), sixth to Delaware’s Hailey Farrell (4:25.64), seventh to W&M’s Emma Merrill (4:27.84), and eighth to fellow Tribe swimmer Jenny Lomicka (4:27.86).

In the B-final, JMU’s Aimee Hooper jumped out to an early lead, but Towson’s Corie Morton overtook her in the last 75 to take the heat.  Their times, 4:25.90 and 4:26.80, would have finished seventh and eighth in the A-final.

Men’s 400 IM – Finals

William & Mary junior Jeremiah O’Donnell set his second individual record of the meet tonight, taking first place in the 400 IM in a time of 3:48.84, almost a second below the old CAA championship record.  He finished over two seconds ahead of second place Delaware swimmer Cory Champ, last night’s 500 free winner (3:50.90).  W&M freshman Conrad Zamparello picked up third in 3:51.68.  Delaware junior Alex Tooley once again finished fourth (3:52.26) replicating his fourth-place finish in the 200 IM last night.  Towson swimmers Jon Burr finished fifth (3:55.69) and Colin Roddy finished sixth (3:56.44).  College of Charleston’s freshman Alec Rutkowski placed seventh (3:56.84), while his teammate William Ryan was DQ’d.

Women’s 100 Fly – Finals

William & Mary swimmers filled half the lanes in the final tonight, but the victory went once again to Towson.  Victoria Oslund came in first with a time of 54.04.  Second went to W&M’s Jessie Ustjanauskas (54.23) and third to Northeastern’s Sara Touchette-McGowan (54.35).  Tribe swimmers Megan Howard (54.47) and Abby Mack (54.51) took fourth and fifth.  College of Charleston’s Jayme Groth just out touched UNCW’s Catherine Gargula, 54.80 to 54.82.  The fourth W&M swimmer, Georgie Crompton, finished eighth in 55.30.

Men’s 100 Fly – Finals

College of Charleston junior Buckley Powell was out first.  William & Mary junior, and defending champion in this event, Justin Barden, had the fastest second fifty.  At the wall, they touched at the same time, tying for first place in a time of 47.55, only .20 off the meet record.  Drexel’s Kyle Lukens was just behind them, touching for third in 47.60.  Towson’s Matt McKenny took fourth in 47.74.  A pair of UNCW swimmers, Valterri Halonen (48.30) and Zack Sowers (48.33) placed fifth and sixth.  Rounding out the A-final were W&M’s Evan Baker (48.36) and Delaware’s Timothy Ware (51.39).

Women’s 200 Free – Finals

Towson women are now three for three on the night, as sophomore Macey Arnold picked up her second win of the meet with a time of 1:46.43 and set a new CAA meet record.  Arnold won the 500 free last night.  Fellow Towson swimmer Charlotte Holz repeated her second place finish in the 500 free, coming in behind Arnold with a time of 1:47.19.  Third was JMU’s Kristen Zielinski (1:48.53).  William & Mary’s Jaimie Miller took fourth in 1:48.97.  JMU swept spots #5-7: Quinn MacMillan (1:49.02), Camila Czulada (1:49.09), and Shannon Harper (1:49.69).  Delaware’s Dominique Montoya placed eighth in 1:51.06.

Men’s 200 Free – Finals

Towson sophomore Dominic Breschi went out hard, and while the rest of the field closed on him, it could not catch him, as he dropped 1.52 seconds off his fifth place seed from his morning to touch in a time of 1:37.88.  William & Mary’s Billy Russell could not match his winning time from last year’s meet.  He closed on Breschi, but ran out of pool, finishing just behind in 1:37.97.  Drexel’s Alex Chialistri (1:38.66) and W&M’s Taegan Clarke (1:38.76) took third and fourth.  UNCW swimmers Adam Salzman (1:39.64) and Alex Labonge (1:39.72) placed fifth and sixth.  Tribe swimmer Alex Henderson finished seventh (1:40.04), and Delaware’s Evertt Albert placed eighth (1:40.44).

Women’s 100 Breast – Finals

Another race, another Towson victory.  Junior Jenna Van Camp won in 59.7, a time that puts her well under the invite time for last year’s NCAA championships.

**A more complete recap will come once official results are posted for this event.

Men’s 100 Breast – Finals

This morning, the top eight finishers in this event were all within half a second of each other, meaning it tonight could truly be anyone’s race.  It was William & Mary senior Matt Goetz, however, who dropped .76 from his fifth place seed this morning to take the win in a time of 55.10.  UNCW’s Marc Brittain was first at the 50, but could not quite hold on, finishing second in 55.39.  Just behind him was College of Charleston’s William Ryan in 55.41.  The fourth-through-sixth finishers were tightly bunched: in fourth was Towson’s Jeremy Liu (55.60), fifth was W&M’s Josh Zimmt (55.67), and Towson’s John Gardland (55.68) took sixth.  William & Mary’s Andrew Nyce finished seventh (55.84) and UNCW’s Daniel Dozier rounded out the heat with a 56.22.

Women’s 100 Back – Finals

William & Mary sophomore Sophie Rittenhouse broke up Towson’s sweep of the night, taking first in a time 54.38.  Northeastern’s Anna Schegoleva was next in 54.77.  Drexel’s Katie Duggan and JMU’s Mary Elizabeth Warhol finished neck-and-neck, 55.22 to 55.25.  In fifth was UNCW’s Catherine Gargula (55.76), sixth was Towson’s Kendal Krumenacker (55.99), seventh was Northeastern’s Christine Leong (56.03), and eight was JMU’s Abby Ortman (56.06).

Men’s 100 Back – Finals

Delaware’s Timothy Ware broke his own meet and conference record, established this morning, becoming the first CAA swimmer to go under 47 seconds in the 100 back with a time of 46.90.  Former record holder, William & Mary junior Will Manion, also swam a lifetime best, but finished second to Ware with a 47.35.  Drexel’s Joel Berryman, last night’s 50 free winner, took third in 47.54.  William and Mary’s Justin Barden, who tied first in the 100 fly earlier tonight, finished fourth with a 48.01.  College of Charleston’s Talmage Spence took fifth (48.42) and UNCW’s Valterri Halonen took sixth (48.73).  Rounding out the A final were Drexel’s JT Lumpkin (49.02) and Delaware’s Gregory Neidlinger (49.97).

Women’s 400 Medley Relay – Finals

The lead see-sawed a few times in this evening, but in the end Towson set a new meet record, taking first place in a time of 3:39.25.  Second was William & Mary’s team in 3:40.30.  The JMU Dukes took third (3:41.22), and Northeastern placed fourth (3:42.62).  UNCW finished just ahead of Delaware, 3:44.10 to 3:44.21, with Drexel (3:48.06) and College of Charleston (3:54.05) taking seventh and eighth.

Men’s 400 Medley Relay – Finals

The William & Mary men are attempting to unseat the UNCW Seahawks’ thirteen year run as conference champions, and despite the diving deficit, they look to be in a good position at the end of Day 3.  The Tribe put an exclamation point at the end of this session, winning the 400 medley relay in a new meet record time of 3:13.83.  W&M came out of the gate a little slow, with Will Manion about a second off of his second-place time from earlier this evening, but individual event winners Matt Goetz and Justin Barden, along with anchor Taegan Clarke, all had the fastest splits in their respective strokes.  In second was the team representing the former record holder, UNCW, in a time of 3:16.65.  The Seahawks finished just ahead of third place Towson (3:16.91).  The final three teams finished within three-tenths of a second of each other: College of Charleston (3:17.34), Delaware (3:17.55), and Drexel (3:17.61).