FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Courtesy of Alan Wickstrom, Simmons
WELLESLEY, Mass. – The Simmons University women and the Norwich University men expanded their respective leads following Day Two of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championship on Saturday at the Boston Sports Institute Natatorium in Wellesley, Mass.
Simmons owns a commanding lead with a score of 700 points to stay ahead of the field. The next four schools are separated by just 20 points with the Norwich women scoring 385 points, followed by Husson University's mark of 381. Regis College (Mass.) is right behind at 373, while Colby-Sawyer College's total of 365 points puts it fifth. University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) stands sixth with 289 points, ahead of Elms College at 238 and Albertus Magnus College with 176 points. Saint Joseph's College (Maine) rounds out the nine schools with 151 points.
Norwich's men enjoys a healthy lead with 271 points, followed by Husson with 121. Regis is just two points behind with 119, while Saint Joseph sits in fourth with 106 points. Elms is in fifth place with 59 points, followed by Saint Joseph's at 58 and Colby-Sawyer with 20.
The championship meet concludes on Sunday with teams getting back in the pool for the preliminaries at 9:30 a.m. in Wellesley.
Norwich sophomore Megan Duffy (Shelton, Conn.) led all female competitors with a pair of first-place efforts, winning the 500-yard freestyle by less than three seconds with a time of 5:19.98 over Colby-Sawyer first year Rebecca Lee (Redding, Conn.). Duffy later dominated the 100-yard breaststroke by almost three seconds with a mark of 1:08.03 to best Regis sophomore Julia Burke (North Andover, Mass.).
Simmons boasted a pair of swimmers with 44 points, courtesy of a first and third place finish each. Sophomore Sarah Singleton (Mission Hills, Calif.) edged out senior teammate Aine Scholand (Albuquerque, N.M.) by just 14 one-hundreths of a second with a time of 59.81 in the 100-yard butterfly and later finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke. Senior Laura List (Bedford, Mass.) touched the wall first in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.76 and added a third-place showing in the 50-yard backstroke. Regis senior Sarah Leonard (Brockton, Mass.) won the 50-backstroke with a time of 27.44 in her only individual event of the night.
Simmons first year Meg Driscoll (Haverhill, Mass.) won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:17.86 to lead a Shark attack that accounted for the top four spots in the race. Junior Anna Leedham (Lowell, Mass.) swam to second place, followed by junior Annie Lam (Natick, Mass.) and first year Lauren Kenney (West Springfield, Mass.).
Sophomore Kyleigh Boatwright (Roseville, Calif.) made the most of her evening for Regis with a victory in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:14.31.
Norwich sophomore diver Sarah Carls topped the field on the one-meter board with a score of 221.50 to finish ahead of a pair of Simmons divers. Junior Sara Manjikian (Belmont, Mass.) tallied 197.05 points for the Sharks, while senior teammate Cristina Samaniego (Avon, Conn.) made her last appearance at the GNAC Championship a memorable one with a score of 175.90 to place third.
Simmons closed the night by winning the 400-yard medley relay behind Scholand (backstroke), first year Katelyn Quinlan (Haverhill, Mass.) (breaststroke), Leedham (butterfly) and List (freestyle) on a combined time of 4:07.38 to win by more than four seconds.
Husson first year Ellie Clarke (Ellsworth, Maine) led the Eagles with 39 points for the fourth-highest point total on the day, finishing second in the 50-yard backstroke and fifth in the 100-yard freestyle, while Colby-Sawyer first year Leilani Marlow (Kapolei, Hawaii) was the meet's sixth-highest scorer for the day with 36 points after placing fourth in the 50-yard backstroke and sixth in the 200-yard backstroke. Regis rookie Cecelia Adelfio (Gloucester, Mass.) also totaled 36 points with a fourth-place showing in the 200-yard backstroke and a sixth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle. Sophomore Alise Martel (Harwinton, Conn.) paced Saint Joseph (Conn.) with 36 points with a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in addition to finishing sixth in the 100-yard freestyle. Junior Kelly Scianna (Milford, Conn.) led Elms with 34 points on a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley and a seventh-place effort in the 200-yard backstroke. Sophomore Elizabeth Sherry (Quinton, Va.) was Albertus Magnus's top scorer in its inaugural season with a tally of 32 points on the day after turning in a fifth-place finish in the 50-yard backstroke. Senior Alexis Coiley (Fort Fairfield, Maine) finished eighth in the 200-yard individual medley final to contribute to a team-high score of 23 points.
Regis first year Robert Wood (Cathedral City, Calif.) and Husson sophomore Steven Johnston (Hermon, Maine) were the only men to win a pair of events on the day. Wood opened the finals with an eight-plus second win in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:51.02 as part of a one-two finish for the Pride with sophomore Brendan Pike (Weymouth, Mass.) taking second. Wood also won the 200-yard individual medley by more than five seconds with a mark of 2:02.20. Johnston was the victor in the 100-yard freestyle, posting a clip of 47.79 after earning a narrow victory in the 50-yard backstroke by just five one-hundreths of a second with a time of 25.46 to best Regis sophomore GianCarlos Banrey (Roslindale, Mass.).
Colby-Sawyer junior Garrett Scahill (Manville, R.I.) broke the only conference record for the day with a winning time of 1:59.68 in the 200-yard backstroke to eclipse the former standard set by Regis' Kiet Luong in 2015. It was the only event of the night for Scahill, but was good enough to give him the high-point mark for the Chargers. Norwich boasted six of the top 10 scorers for the day, including senior Alex DiGiacomo (Norfolk, Mass.), who won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 53.14 to out-touch sophomore Jacob Wyse (Broad Brook, Conn.) by eight one-hundreths of a second. DiGiacomo also placed second in the 100-yard freestyle as the meet's third-leading scorer for the day. Sophomore Michael Kuehne (Auburn, Mich.) won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:04.50 in his only individual event of the night for Norwich. First year Jack Brennan (Hopkinton, Mass.) completed the sweep in the diving events, following his record-breaking effort on the three-meter board from the previous night, with a score of 237.85 to win on the one-meter board by almost 41 points.
Wyse added a third-place effort for Saint Joseph to give him the fourth-highest point total, while sophomore Brian Parrott (Londonderry, N.H.), junior Sam Carlson (Dedham, Maine) and first year Daniel Taylor (Minden, Nev.) all earned third and fourth place showings for Norwich.
Norwich closed the night with a win in the 400-yard medley relay. Junior Joseph Clark (Acworth, Ga.), who placed second in the 200-yard backstroke earlier in the night, led off the race on the backstroke leg, followed by Kuenne's breaststroke, first year Derek Furtado (Plymouth, Mass.) in the butterfly and Parrott's freestyle anchor to combine on a time of 3:45.88 to edge out Regis by just under a second.
First year Evan Whaley (Merrimack, N.H.) scored a pair of sixth-place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly to pace Saint Joseph's (Maine), while junior Edward Helldorfer (Brunswick, Maine) and first year Jake Connolly (Westbrook, Maine) finished fifth in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively.
2020 GNAC Women's Standings (thru Day 2)
1. Simmons University 700
2. Norwich University 385
3. Husson University 381
4. Regis 373
5. Colby-Sawyer College 365
6. University of Saint Joseph 289
7. Elms College 238
8. Albertus Magnus College 176
9. Saint Joseph's College 151
2020 GNAC Men's Standings (thru Day 2)
1. Norwich University 271
2. Husson University 121
3. Regis 119
4. University of Saint Joseph 106
5. Elms College 59
6. Saint Joseph's College 58
7. Colby-Sawyer College 20
