Canisius Colleges captures its 16th Consecutive ECAC Synchronized Swimming Championship
Canisius Colleges captures its 16th Consecutive ECAC Synchronized Swimming Championship
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History repeats
itself again, as the Canisius College synchronized swimming
team secured its 16th consecutive Eastern College Athletic
Conference (ECAC) Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Scheerr
Pool on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The Golden
Griffins scored 100 points to finish first overall, sweeping each
category at the conference championship.
"I'm very proud
of my team. They rose to the occasion and put up their best swims
so far this year," said head coach Jill
Wright. "We are heading into nationals undefeated and I'm
excited to see them dig deep and fight for a top spot."
The Golden
Griffins have possessed the ECAC team title every year since
1998. In her seventh season as head coach, Wright has guided
the Griffs to a conference title in each of
those seasons. A former All-American for the Griffs, she led
her team to four team crowns as a four-time champion soloist
bringing her career total to 11.
En route to
winning the conference crown, Canisius finished at the top of
the solo, duet, trio, team, A-figures, B-figures, and C-figures
routines. Taking the top-two slots in the A- and C-figures, the
Griffs swept the first four places of the B-figures.
In the team
portion of the championship, the Griffs swam to a first-place
finish to remain undefeated in the routine this season. Canisius
held an eight-point lead over runner-up Wheaton, who managed
to score 79.500 points. The Griffs' team routine included
seniorsMelissa
Andrews and Victoria Mintz,
juniors Morgan Lebrecht, Jessica
Mancini andSvetlana Ponkratova,
sophomore Viktoria Mironova, and
freshmen Laina
Gray and Laura
Schmidt.
Canisius dominated the
trio routine, taking the top-three spots in the event. Separated by
only .125 points, the trio of Schmidt, Gray, and Lebrecht captured
the top spot (83.875), edging out second-place trio (83.750) of
Mintz, Mancini, and Mironova for the first time this season.
Finishing third overall was the trio of
freshmen Miranda
Marquez and Kristin Oswald, and
junior Deanna DeSimone with a score of
77.500 for their second-highest point total this season.
In duet action,
Ponkratova and Mintz combined to finish first (85.000) with the
duet of DeSimone and Oswald in third (77.625).
Ponkratova kept
her string of first-place finishes in the solo routine intact,
placing first with a score of 86.625. The junior coasted to first
place with over an eight-point lead on runner-up Nicole Chicoine of
Wheaton College (78.250).
The Blue and
Gold will conclude the 2013 season at the U.S. Collegiate National
Championships on March 20-21 in Stanford, Calif.
Article courtesy Canisius College
Sports Information Department