BOSTON--Boston University will host the 19th annual
America East Swimming & Diving Championship Thursday, February 19 through
Sunday, February 22. The UMBC Retrievers
look to earn their sixth straight conference title for the men and third
straight for the women.
In order to defend their title, the UMBC men will rely
heavily on senior standout Justin Bronson (Oshawa,
Ontario/MSGR. Paul Dwyer) who leads four
events entering the championship.
Bronson currently tops the 100 butterfly, and the 100-, 200- and 500 freestyle
events. Classmate Evan Roseberry(Sinking
Spring, Pa./Wilson), who is seeded first in the 1650 free, second in the 400
individual medley and third in the 200 butterfly, will need to have a strong
performance in order to help his squad fend off last year’s most outstanding
swimmer Brenno Varanda (St. Petersburg, Fla./Northeast High) and a hungry
Binghamton squad.
Varanda sits atop the men’s 200IM, 400IM and 100-yard
breaststroke and is seeded third in the 200-yard breast. Teammate diver Ryan Graham (Vestal,
N.Y./Vestal), seeded third behind Boston University’s Andre Watson (Hempstead,
N.Y./Rutgers University) and Tanner Knorr (San Diego, Calif./Valhalla) in the
one and three-meter diving events, will try to break through the Terriers’
strong hold on the boards to pick up important points for the Bearcats.
The diving duo of Watson and Knorr is a valuable asset for
the Terriers, but Boston University
will also look to junior Arik Seiler (Portland,
Maine/Deering) to garner points in order to
top UMBC. Seiler is seeded second in the
200IM and third in the 500 freestyle.
Lukasz Ochmanski (Lodz, Poland/Kosciuszko Memorial) , a
Stony Brook sophomore, is the top Seawolf in five separate events including
third in the 1650 free, sixth in the 500 free and seventh in the 200 IM. Maine’s
Jeremy Bender (St. Paul,
Minnn./Highland park) will look to continue his stellar season and carry his
Black Bears in the 1650 free, the 500IM and the 400IM.
On the women’s side, the Terriers, who held the lead going
into the final day of competition at last year’s championship, are just one of
the threats to the Retrievers’ chances at a three-peat. Boston holds the top
three slots in both diving events with Tess Waresmith (Dover, Mass./Miami),
Alex Crerar (Regina, Saskatchewan/Riffel) and Sarah Colton (Wheatfield,
N.Y./Niagara Wheatfield) seeded first, second and third, respectively. With last year’s most outstanding swimmer Eve
Kinsella (Freehold, N.J./The Peddie School), seeded first in the 200IM and 200
free, and Brigette O’Shaughnessy (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad), seeded first in
the 500 free and second in the 1650 free, in the pool the Terriers will try to
out perform Tereza Kaplanova (Prague, Czech Republic/Gym. J.G. Jarkovskeho) and
the reigning UMBC women.
Kaplanova sits at second in the 100 breast and 200IM and
third in the 200 breast. The Retrievers
will need strong relay times in order to remain on top of a competitive
league. New
Hampshire’s rookie Jessica Little (Barrie,
Canada/Barrie Central Collegiate Ist.) and grad student Jessie Ellisalcaide (Harpswell,
Maine/Univ. of Maine) could
deliver a fatal blow to the rest of the conference if they continue their
dominant seasons. Little is seeded first
in the 100 and 200 breast in addition to being third in the 200IM while
Ellisalcaide holds the top slot in the 50 free, the 100 free, and the 100
breaststroke.
Leading the Catamount effort will be Kate Weaver (So. Burlington,
Vt./So. Burlington) who is leading
the pack in the 200 backstroke and is ranked within the top six in the 200
free, the 100 back and the 100IM. Stony
Brook freshman Darcy Heuser (Center, Ohion/Centerville) is ranked within the
top 10 in the 100-, 200- and 500-freestyle events and should make a major
impact for the Seawolves.
Maine senior captain
Colleen Miller (Missoula, Mont./Hellgate)
has been a consistent performer for the Black Bears this year and is sure to
turn some heads during the 1650- and 500-yard freestyle events.
The men’s 1-meter diving preliminaries will begin at
approximately 5 p.m. on Thursday February 19, and will be followed by the 800
freestyle and 200 medley relay events and the 1M diving finals.
Friday’s preliminary events will kick off at 10 a.m. with
the 500-yard freestyle, followed by the 200IM, the 50-yard freestyle and the
200yard freestyle relay. The women’s 3M
diving preliminaries will begin approximately on 2
p.m. on Friday and will be followed by each prelims’ finals,
beginning at 6 p.m.
The 400IM will begin Saturday’s preliminary events at
approximately 10 a.m. and will be
followed by the 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast and 100 backstroke. The swimming finals will resume at 6 p.m. and
will include all the prelim events as well as the 400-yard medley relay.
Sunday’s preliminaries will commence at 10 a.m. with the 200 back, and will continue 100 yard
free, 200 breast, 200 fly and the 400 freestyle. The women’s 1M diving prelims
will begin at 2 p.m. will be followed by the 1650 freestyle prelims beginning
at 3 p.m. The awards ceremony and
presentations of male and female Most Outstanding Swimmers, Most Outstanding
Divers, Coaches’ Awards and Coaching Staffs of the Year will follow the
completion of all events.
Binghamton University, Boston University, University of
Maine, UMBC, University of New Hampshire (women only), Stony Brook University,
and University of Vermont (women only) will all compete for the 2008 Swimming
and Diving Championship.