2024 America East Fan Guide: UMBC Men And New Hampshire Women Face New Challengers

2024 AMERICA EAST SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 14 – Saturday, February 17, 2024
• WPI Sports & Recreation Center, Worcester, MA
• Teams: Binghamton, Bryant, Maine, New Hampshire (women), NJIT (men only), UMBC, Vermont (women), VMI
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: New Hampshire (4x)
  • Men: UMBC (2x)
• Championship Central

The UMBC men defended their title from 2022 and the New Hampshire women won their 4th straight conference title last year. This year might look a little different.

MEN’S PREVIEW:

According to the Swimulator, the UMBC men will face an upward battle if they look to win their third conference title in a row. The Binghamton men enter the meet as about 80-point swimming favorites over the defending champions UMBC.

As for diving, UMBC and Binghamton split the diving events last year. UMBC’s Anders Logas won the 1 meter while Binghamton’s Ryan Cohn won the 3 meter. The largest difference though is that Cohn graduated and will be unable to defend his title while Logas returns for his sophomore season.

In the pool, UMBC is led by Oliver Gassmann who will look to defend his conference title in the 50 free, 100 butterfly, and 200 butterfly. Gassmann won Most Outstanding Swimmer at last year’s championships. So far this season, Gassmann leads the conference in both the 100 and 200 butterfly events. His 50 freestyle title may be more challenging to defend as Binghamton’s Eli Lanfear leads the way so far this season after swimming a 19.94 at midseasons. Lanfear finished second behind Gassmann in the 50 free final last year but swam the fastest 50 free time at the meet with a 19.93 in prelims.

UMBC will also look to be led by Daniel Nicusan who won three events at last year’s meet. Nicusan will look to defend his titles in the 100 breast, 200 breast, and 200 IM. Like Gassmann, Nicusan leads the conference this season in two of his three events. Nicusan leads the way in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes but is currently third in the conference this season in the 200 IM.

Binghamton’s Henry Shemet is currently the conference’s top 200 IMer after swimming a 1:46.85 at midseasons. Shemet was second behind Nicusan in the event last year. Shemet is also the conference’s top 400 IMer as his time from midseasons is the fastest in the conference by over five seconds.

Although the biggest battle looks to be between UMBC and Binghamton, NJIT cannot be counted out. NJIT is led by Laith Sabbah and Francois Malherbe. Both Sabbah (England) and Malherbe (South Africa) arrived on campus this fall and have adjusted well to short course yards.

Sabbah swam the fastest 200 backstroke in the conference at midseasons and is also a threat to the conference title in the 200 and 500 freestyles. Malherbe is a significant add to the team in both the individual and relay events. Malherbe holds the conference’s second-fastest 50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly times this season.

Bryant is led by defending conference champion in the 1650 freestyle Leo Luna, and Maine is led by sprinter Cameron Watelet.

Swims to Watch:

50 Freestyle: Can Oliver Gassmann (UMBC) defend all three of his titles and win an event each day of the meet once again? Like last year, Gassmann’s biggest challenger is Eli Lanfear of Binghamton who comes in with the top time of the season and had the fastest time of the meet last year in prelims. Can Gassmann prove to be clutch once again in finals?

400 IM: The 400 IM battle is huge between the top two teams. Binghamton holds the fastest and 6th fastest times this season while UMBC holds the #2, #3, #4, #5, and #7 times in the conference. Although a scoring roster might limit this possibility, but could the two teams take up the whole ‘A’ final and battle it out?

2023 FINAL STANDINGS

1. UMBC – 855.5
2. Binghamton – 792.5
3. Bryant – 615
4. NJIT – 434
5. VMI – 302
6. Maine – 273

SWIMSWAM MEN’S PREDICTIONS

1. Binghamton
2. UMBC
3. NJIT

The battle looks to be close between Binghamton and UMBC but one of the largest differences is the team’s 200 freestylers. UMBC has no one below the 1:41 second mark while Binghamton has four men below the 1:41 mark. It is just one individual event but the 800 free relay is also huge.

WOMEN’S PREVIEW

According to the Swimulator, the women’s meet looks to be even closer on the women’s side as Vermont has a 5.5-point advantage over defending champions New Hampshire.

Jackie House of Vermont returns after earning Most Outstanding Swimmer last year at the meet. House won the 100 free, 200 free, and 500 free. So far, she leads the conference this season in the 500 free and is third this season in the 100 and 200 frees.

Vermont also earned Most Outstanding Rookie last year as Natalie Schlemmer was 2nd in the 400 IM, 3rd in the 200 breast, and 5th in the 200 IM. Schlemmer will look to make the A final in all three events again and her current season bests have set her up to do so.

Vermont sophomore Hally Laney leads the conference in the 100 and 200 butterfly this season. Laney will look to defend both her 100 and 200 butterfly titles from last season. Her 200 IM is where she has made huge improvements as she only made the ‘C’ final last year but is currently 2nd in the conference this season.

New Hampshire’s Ella Guilfoil has had a huge sophomore year and leads the conference in the 200 backstroke, 200 IM, and 400 IM this season. Her most impressive swim this season was her 4:15.33 400 IM which is the fastest in the conference by over 15 seconds and 67th in the NCAA so far this season.

The sprint crew is strong for New Hampshire. Audrey Mahoney leads the conference in the 50 and 100 freestyles this season and is the defending conference champion in the 50 free. Abby McKinney was third last year in the 50 free and also holds top eight times in the conference in the 50 and 100 frees.

New Hampshire’s biggest advantage over Vermont comes in the diving events. Vermont had no finalists in the diving events last year while New Hampshire returns Ana O’Neil who won the 3 meter last year.

Binghamton’s strength is in the breaststroke events as they hold the top three times in the 100 breast this season. Courtney Moane leads the conference in the 100 breast while Lauren Kuzma leads the conference in the 200 breast. Moane was second in the 100 breast at the meet last year. Maddie Hoover is also key for Binghamton as Hoover is second in the conference in the 200 free this season and was third in the event at conferences last year.

Bryant is led by defending champion Reagan Lord who won the 100 backstroke last year and also finished in the ‘A’ final of the 200 IM and 200 backstroke. Lord leads the conference in the 100 back and is second in the 200 back and third in the 200 IM so far this season. Julia Stenhard also leads the way for Bryant after three ‘A’ final swims last year in the 100 fly, 200 fly, and 100 back.

Bruna de Padua of UMBC is key for the team as she leads the conference with a 1:49.91 200 freestyle, the only swimmer who has been under the 1:51 mark. The transfer from Drury will also look to make the ‘A’ final in the 500 and 1650 freestyles.

Maine’s Kayla Loughman was the team’s top scorer last year and will look to repeat with numerous ‘A’ finals after a 6th-place finish in the 100 breast and an 8th-place finish in the 200 IM.

Swims to Watch:

100 Freestyle: After swimming the fastest time in prelims, Audrey Mahoney of New Hampshire swam faster in finals but was second to Jackie House of Vermont. Mahoney currently holds the top time in the conference while House is the 3rd fastest. In between the two of them is UMBC’s Makaela Hill who won the ‘B’ final last year but has already been faster this year at midseasons than she was at last year’s championships.

400 IM: Ella Guilfoil is huge to watch here with her time of 4:15.33 from midseasons. The last for NCAA invite times have ranged from 4:10-4:13 so the big thing to watch here is could she potentially qualify for NCAAs as a freshman?

2023 FINAL STANDINGS

1. New Hampshire – 833
2. Bryant – 664
3. Vermont – 563.5
4. UMBC – 503.5
5. Binghamton – 367.5
6. Maine – 321.5
7. VMI – 141

SWIMSWAM WOMEN’S PREDICTIONS

1. New Hampshire
2. Vermont
3. Binghamton

Diving gives New Hampshire a big advantage over Vermont which I think will be the difference maker here. Guilfoil’s drops for New Hampshire are big.