CCSU Takes the Lead After Day 2 of Northeast Conference

2016 WOMEN’S NORTHEAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 24- Saturday, February 27, 2016
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Eastern Time Zone)
• Wednesday Timed Finals 8PM, Prelims 10AM / Finals 6PM (Thurs-Sat)
• Defending Champion: Central Connecticut (2015 results and recap here.)
• Live Results
• Championship Central
• NEC Teams: Bryant, Central Connecticut, Long Island University- Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner College

500 Free

1. Katie Lafferty 4:53.19
2. Aidan Devers 4:58.00
3. Maggie Shaw 5:02.65

Wagner’s Shaw, last year’s defending champion fell short this year to CCSU freshman Devers, and SFU sophomore Lafferty. Lafferty set the pace the entire race, going out in her first 100 in 55.30, way ahead of the field. Last year’s championships, Lafferty competed in the 50 free and not the 500 free on night one, finishing 6th.

Devers made an impressive debut at her first collegiate conference championships, although she added a second in the finals from her morning swim (4:57.18), she swam a personal best for the season. Shaw swam right on her season bests in the preliminaries, but couldn’t duplicate or improve her time at finals, leaving her with a bronze medal.

200 IM

1. Anu Nihipali 2:03.97
2. Stephanie Czulewicz 2:05.65
3. Maddy Garber 2:06.01

Nihipali of Wagner swam a time this year that was also 2 seconds slower than what she did at last year’s championships but still dominated the 200 IM, winning the event for the 3rd straight year.

Czulewicz of CCSU was last years 3rd place finisher behind Garber and Nihipali, but this year it was the other way around. Czulewicz was second ahead of her teammates Garber and 4th place finisher Lisa Ward (2:06.62).

50 Free

1. Christine Rasile 23.00 (*New NEC Meet Record.)
2. Lauren Rasile 23.21
3. Katelyn Coleman 23.35

Christine and Lauren were last year’s 4th and 5th place finishers when they finished in times of 23.60 and 23.72. This year Christine touched the pads in a new conference record time, breaking the previous 11-year old record of 23.05.

200 Free Relay

1. CCSU 1:33.95 (*New NEC Meet Record.)
2. SFU 1:34.00
3. LIU 1:34.09

The top 3 schools all went under the previous conference record time of 1:34.22, and all went faster than last year’s winning time of 1:34.63. The CCSU team of Lauren (23.91), Christine (22.92), Lauren Czulewicz (23.45) and Alania Papiro (23.67) dominated the field, being the only team in the meet to break 1 minute and 34 seconds.

Team Scores After Day 2

1. CCSU – 251
2. Wagner – 223
3. LIU Brooklyn – 165
4. Bryant – 149
5. Saint Francis University – 147
6. Sacred Heart – 83
7. Saint Francis College – 68
8. Mount Saint Mary’s – 65