2016 MEN’S & WOMEN’S CCSA CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, February 17 – Saturday, February 20
- Gabrielsen Natatorium, Athens, GA (Eastern Time Zone)
- Prelims 10AM / Finals 6PM (Wed-Sat)
- Defending Men’s Champion: University of Maryland Baltimore County (results)
- Defending Women’s Champion: Florida Gulf Coast University (results)
- Championship Central
- Meet Program
- Live results
- Live Video (costs money)
Florida Gulf Coast University got off to precisely the started they need to win yet another CCSA Women’s championship on the first night of swimming at Gabrielsen Natatorium. Meanwhile, the defending men’s champion University of Maryland Baltimore County has a fight on their hands. They are in third, tied with Old Dominion. Gardner Webb and Incarnate Word are tied for first, although they are just four points ahead.
Women’s Meet:
The Eagles got the night started off by easily winning the 200 Medley relay. The foursome of Elise Haan, Katie Armitage, Fanny Teijonsalo and Katie Latham swam 1:37.66. That time was a half second short of their CCSA record, although Armitage is the only swimmer left from that team. It also came up a bit short of an NCAA relay “A” time, meaning the Eagles will need to make the “A” in another relay in order to bring relays to NCAAs.
Haan was the difference maker- her 24.2 lead off was the only backstroke leg under 25.5 in the field.
In the 800 Freestyle, it was Florida Gulf Coast once again taking the victory. Haan swam once again, joined by Linda Shaw, Barbara Caraballo and Lani Cabrera. They smashed FGCU’s own conference record in that event, swimming 7:13.83 and winning by eight seconds.
Liberty University took second in both relays and also finds itself in second place in the meet. In the 800 relay they got a good leadoff from senior Natalie Beale (1:48.6) but ultimately couldn’t match Gulf Coast’s pace.
Florida Gulf coast also benefited immensely from having three divers at the meet. Just eleven divers competed overall, nearly guaranteeing points for FGCU. Emma Wiesel of Georgia Southern won the 1M diving with a score of 294.90.
Scores after day 1:
1.Florida Gulf Coast University 128
2.Liberty University 112
3t.Georgia Southern University 106
3.tGardner-Webb University 106
5.Campbell University 98
6t.Univ North Carolina Asheville 94
6t.Univ OF The Incarnate Word 94
8.University of North Florida 90
9.Howard University 80
10t.Virginia Military Institute 66
10.tNorth Carolina A&T State Unive 66
Men’s Meet
Incarnate Word was able to hold off a late charge from UMBC to take the opening 800 freestyle relay. The team of Beau Fusilier, Kyrylo Shvets, Jack Hennessy and Connor Hennessy all swam nearly the same time to come away with the victory in 6:33.10. UMBC’s Gregor Spoerlein had the fastest split of the field but ran out of room to catch the Cardinals.
Gardner-Webb scored a back and forth victory in the 200 Medley relay. An outstanding backstroke split from Connor Bos (21.98) got them well out in front. Old Dominion battled back to take the lead at the 150 mark, with Jacob Zeidler and Reed Mathews scoring the fastest breaststroke (24.05) and butterfly (21.18) splits in the field. Gardner Webb’s Nathan Lile torched the rest of the anchor legs with a 19.02 split to secure the victory.
Ryan McIntire won the 3M Diving with 344.95 points, a new conference record. Both Old Dominion (3 divers) and Incarnate Word (4 divers) took advantage of a total field of just 13 divers to rack up points for their teams.
Scores after day 1:
1. Gardner-Webb University 114
1. Univ OF The Incarnate Word 114
3. Umbc Swimming & Diving 110
3. Old Dominion University 110
5. Florida Atlantic University 104
6. New Jersey Institute of Tech 96
7. Howard University 92
8. Virginia Military Institute 88
