LIVE RESULTS
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. - The Eastern College Athletic Conference Winter Swimming and Diving Championships continued Saturday at the Nassau County Aquatic Center with four meet records set in the swimming events and the crowning of the Men's and Women's Divers and Diving Coaches of the Meet.
Fairfield freshman Sam Tonole was named Men's Diver of the Meet after winning Saturday's 1-meter event with a total of 234.55 points and placing second in Friday's 3-meter event. Stags diving coach Devon O'Nalty was picked as the Men's Diving Coach of the Meet. On the women's side, Sacred Heart swept the awards, with Molly Martin parlaying a 1-meter victory and second-place finish in the 3-meter on Saturday into Diver of the Meet honors and Pioneers diving coach Adam Vance took home the Women's Diving Coach of the Meet award following Martin's 1-2 performance.
In the team standings, the New Jersey Institute of Technology continues to lead the men's division with 1,552.5 points, 195 points ahead of Fairfield University (1,357.5). Monmouth University (1,084.5) is in third and St. Francis College (861) rounds out the top four. The Fairfield women also remained in first, leading the way with 1,326 points. Long Island is in second at 1,064, followed by Stony Brook University (819.5) and St. Francis (815) sits in fourth heading into the final day of the meet.
In the swimming events on Saturday morning, Jake Nelms of NJIT won the men's 500 freestyle, posting a time of 4:36.18, just less than three seconds ahead of runner-up Callan Smith of Monmouth (4:39.15), who edged Benedek Lendvai of St. Francis (4:39.48) by 0.33 of a second. Ana Paula Montes De Oca Zapiain from St. Francis won the women's 500 in 4:59.57, ahead of Fairfield's Sara Ostensen (5:01.38) and Long Island's Amanda San Juan (5:06.09).
Long Island swept the top two places in the women's 200 individual medley, with Amanda Peren (2:03.80) and Jeanne Touchette-McGowan (2:07.72) placing first and second, respectively. Just behind Touchette-McGowan was Fairfield's Morgan Hansen (2:07.78). The men's 200 IM was a close race, with the top five places separated by only 1.14 seconds. Fairfield's Evan Fair (1:54.14) won the event, beating out NJIT's Edward Madrigal (1:54.85) and Monmouth's Hunter Klingener (1:55.02) for top honors.
Fairfield's Maria Nitti won the women's 50 freestyle in 23.49 seconds, with Alexandra Ho of Monmouth (23.95) and Stony Brook's Michelle Liberman (24.05) rounding out the top three. Monmouth took the top two places in the men's 50 freestyle, with the Hawks' Blake Reynolds (20.99 seconds) and Valance Washington (21.19) completing the sweep and NJIT's Tyler Pollock (21.17) taking third.
The women's 200 freestyle relay couldn't have been any closer, as just 0.01 of a second separated the winners - Fairfield's team of Sam D'Alessandro, Emily Holman, Ostensen and Nitti that finished in 1:36.26 - from the runner-up foursome from Long Island (Lydia Amon, Jacqueline Grabowski, Noemie Lacroix-Moreau and Peren), which came in at 1:36.27. Monmouth's relay team of Ho, Bradie Keelen, Camryn McHugh and Tahlia Botha came in third at 1:37.85. NJIT won the men's 200 freestle relay, with the quartet of Eddie Parks, Joshua Franco, Nicholas Lyons and Pollock putting up a time of 1:24.57, 0.24 ahead of Monmouth's team of Reynolds, Washington, Ben Yeung and Thomas From (1:24.81).
Saturday's evening session saw Long Island sweep the top two spots in the women's 400 IM, with Touchette-McGowan (4:31.32) and Kyleigh Barao (4:32.21) give LIU 60 points in the team standings. Fair won the men's 400 IM with a time of 4:02.80, over five seconds ahead of Nelms, who came in at 4:08.03. Liberman took home first in the 100 butterfly with a new meet record of 54.89 seconds, besting the old standard of 55.24 set in 2012. Hansen (55.48) placed second for Fairfield. In the men's 100 butterfly, Alfred Christensson of St. Francis came home first with a time of 49.92, edging Reynolds (49.99) by 0.07 of a second.
Long Island's Peren won the women's 200 freestyle in a meet record time of 1:48.66, shattering the old record of 1:51.37, set in 2017. Peren won by 3.81 seconds over Montes De Oca Zapiain, who finished in 1:52.47 for St. Francis. Franco from NJIT took first in the men's 200 freestyle in 1:40.57 and Monmouth's From came in second with a time of 1:42.16. The women's 100 breaststroke winner was Raphaelle Gregorire of St. Francis in 1:03.98, with Tara Cabiling of Long Island coming in second in 1:05.18. NJIT's Lyons won the men's 100 breaststroke in 56.16 seconds, just in front of Trevor Askew of Monmouth, who came in at 56.82 seconds.
Peren also won the women's 100 backstroke in another meet record time, finishing in 54.97 seconds, 0.10 ahead of the old record of 55.07 that was set in 2018. Peren came in 2.20 seconds ahead of Liberman, who finished in 57.17 seconds. Monmouth took the top two spots in the men's 100 backstroke, with Smith (49.74 seconds) and Dylan Edge (50.91) finishing ahead of the competition. Fairfield also took the women's 400 medley relay in a record time, as the team of Miko-Rydzaj, Victoria Krivitsky, Hansen and Nitti finishing in 3:50.19, besting the old record of 3:51.28 that had stood since 2014. Stony Brook's team of Liberman, Jess Salmon, Madison Enda and Reagan MacDonald was second in 3:53.69. Monmouth piled up 120 points in the men's team standings by going 1-2 in the 400 medley relay. Smith, Askew, Reynolds and Washington got first in 3:22.24 and Edge, Austin D'Angelo, From and Dylan Barkhuizen placed second in 3:25.20.
The championships resume Sunday at 10 a.m. with eight individual events and two relays.