On the final night of competition, the Massachusetts men and Richmond women came from behind to win the A-10 Conference Championship in Geneva, Ohio. The Massachusetts led by distance specialist Alessandro Bomprezzi and their 3-meter divers overcame a 45.5 point deficit to win their first title since 2012. On the women’s side Richmond took the lead with their distance group finishing 3rd through 5th and never looked back on route to winning their 5th straight conference title.
2015 Men and Women’s A10 Championships
- Wednesday February 18- Saturday, February 21
- Geneva, Ohio – The Spire Institute
- Prelims/Finals Th-Sat 10:00AM/6:30PM Wednesday 3:00PM/6:30PM
- Defending Champs: Women-Richmond(4x) Men-St.Bonaventure(2x)
- Live Results
- Championship Central
Emma Smith (16:39.78) of La Salle out-dueled Molly Smith(16:43.11) of UMass to win the women’s mile. Terwilliger, Grouger, and McSweeney of Richmond placed third through fifth scoring major points for the Lady Spiders.
UMass junior Bomprezzi added his name to yet another A-10 conference record on the weekend this time it was the mile touching the wall at 15:13.69. Not far behind was La Salle sophomore Mattias Glenesk(15:15.17) and Fordham junior Steve Sholdra (15.27.55) rounding out the podium
Steff Maurer (1:59.45) with an impressive 29.17 last 50 won the 200 backstroke for the George Mason Patriots. Duquesne was well represented in the A final with Santer (2:00.10), Watson (2:00.35) and Fink (2:01.75) touched 2nd, 4th, and 6th for crucial points as they attempted to get back into the team race.
Luke Burton (1:42.88) of Davidson went well under Michael Pilyugin’s meet and conference record of 1:45.14 set at last years championships. Pilyugin (1:43.74) of St.Bonaventure was also under his record from last year but could not hold off Burton the final 50 yards. Oliver Wyeth (1:46.52) of UMass touched 3rd with teammates Hao Luong (1:48.73) and Ian Wilson (1:48.88) collecting 7th and 8th place points.
Elise Lankiewicz won the 100 free (49.83) setting her third meet record on the weekend. Following Lankiewicz, Kelley Yang (50.44) of Richmond and Meredith Nakano (50.47) of Davidson placed 2nd and 3rd.
St.Bonaventure Viacheslav Shchukin could not match his conference record from last year of 43.42 but still took home the conference title in 43.97. Seniors Zack Billingsley(44.31) and Travis Lauri(44.38) were out with the junior at the 50 but could not hold pace through the back 50, falling to 2nd and 3rd.
Sarah Brallier (2:14.47) from George Mason and Morgan Peterson(2:15.43) of Saint Louis went 1-2 in the women’s 200 breaststroke. Freshmen Kayla Owens(Duquesne) and Erin Barry (Richmond) raced to the very end for the 200 breaststroke bronze medal with Owens out-touching Barry 2:16.32-2:16.42.
La Salle’s Johan Roth held 30.4’s through the back 100 on route to breaking Billy Brown’s 200 breaststroke meet and conference set in 2001. UMass senior Michael Glenn (1:59.83) placed second with Roth’s training partner Dimitrijie Mladenovic (1:59.96) falling to third.
After a rough 100 Butterfly earlier in the week and a conference title on the line Melissa Ross knew she would need to win the 200 butterfly for the lady spiders on night 4. Win she did out roughly a second above her 100 butterfly from earlier this week Ross held on to win in 2:00.27. Madison Baker (2:00.49) of George Mason passed Megan Polaha (2:01.04) but ran out of pool falling to Ross for second.
Danny Camozzo repeated as the A-10 200 butterfly champion (1:47.36) but could not rewrite his own record from last years championship. Steve Sholdra (1:47.93) of Fordham walked down Oliver Keegan (1:48.45) and Goran Koprivnjak (1:48.75) of George Washington to win silver for Rams.
UMass diving sealed the deal for the Minutemen with freshman Trent Kindvall winning the 3-meter with a score of 322.25. Teammates Nolan Burns and 1-meter champion Robert Barry placed 3rd and 4th barring a disqualification in the 400 freestyle relay UMass would be your conference champions.
The Davidson women closed the meet with a new 400 Freestyle Relay record. Kassie Shannon (51.38), Meredith Nakano (49.99), Elise Lankiewicz (48.99) , and Angie Healy(49.99) combined to post 3:20.35. Duquesne (3:24.11) George Mason (3:24.42), Fordham(3:25.12), and La Salle (3:26.70) followed the Wildcats in the final event of the evening.
Saint Louis’s Zack Billingsley (44.78), Pat May (44.07), Brendan Hulseman (44.03), and Ryan McCoy (44.11) blew the field away posting a 2:56.99 to win the men’s 400 Freestyle Relay. St. Bonaventure (2:58.57) and George Mason (2:58.77) rounded out the A-10 championship podium. UMass, focusing on very safe relay starts, placed 6th sealing the conference title for the Minutemen.
Richmond finished the weekend with 586, UMass 498 and Duquesne with 479 to take the top 3 spots for the A-10. Trailing Richmond, Massachusetts and Duquesne in the final standings were Davidson (437), Fordham (425), George Mason (421), La Salle (286), Saint Louis (189), Rhode Island (152), St. Bonaventure (129) and George Washington (99).
After the University of Massachusetts with 589.5 was two-time defending A-10 Champion, St. Bonaventure, finishing with 569 points. The Bonnies were followed by George Mason (525), La Salle (449.5), Saint Louis (415), Davidson (335), George Washington (301.5) and Fordham (272.5).
Courtesy: Atlantic 10 Conference
