BOSTON, Mass.- The UMBC men won their sixth title while Boston University’s women earned their first since 1994 at the 19th annual America East Swimming & Diving Championship at Boston University’s Fitness and Recreation Center.
UMBC trailed host Boston University with two events remaining in the four-day competition, but rallied in the 200-yard butterfly, earning four of the top five spots, to edge out the Terriers (873) by 27 points. Binghamton University earned third with 700 points, followed by Stony Brook University (366) and the University at Maine (219).
The Terrier women gained the lead during day two of the Championship and never faltered, defeating last year’s champions the UMBC Retrievers (687), University of Vermont (587), University of New Hampshire (537), Stony Brook University (330), Binghamton University (278) and the University of Maine (159).
New Hampshire’s Jessica Little earned the Most Outstanding Rookie award, while Vermont’s Colleen Clark and Boston’s Tess Waresmith earned most outstanding female swimmer and diver, respectively. Boston’s Eve Kinsella earned this year’s Coaches’ Award for the women for accumulating the most points over four years at the conference championship and Gerry Cournoyer’s staff from Vermont won women’s Coaching Staff of the Year.
For the men’s end of the year awards, Binghamton’s Nolan Slesnick earned Most Outstanding rookie and Boston University’s Matthew Rickett and Andre Watson respectively won Most Outstanding Swimmer and Diver. Bearcat standout Brenna Varanda earned the Coaches’ award for the men and Bill Smyth and the Terrier staff earned the male Coaching Staff of the Year award.
Vermont’s Molly MacMillan defended her title in the 1650 freestyle, earning first with a time of 16:54.93 while Binghamton’s Most Outstanding Rookie Nolan Slesnick won the event for the men (15:41.03).
New Hampshire’s Amy Perrault won the 200-yard backstroke in 2:00.08 and Bryon Kallert, from Boston, paced the men in the event, touching in a conference record 1:48.75.
Jessica Ellisalcaide from New Hampshire won the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 50.17. Touching first for the men was Jackson Hill from Boston with a time of 44.18.
The women’s most Outstanding Rookie, Jessica Little, won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:16. 59, touching over two and a half seconds ahead of her competition. Brenno Varanda, the 2009 recipient of the coaches’ award, won the even for the men in a conference recording-setting time of 2:00.63.
Jennifer Espositio from UMBC was the only female to break the 2-minute mark in the 200-yard butterfly (1:59.98), earning first place alongside fellow Retriever Brad Reitz who touched in 1:47.69.
Tess Waresmith completed her sweep of the one- and three-meter diving events by scoring a 539.90 on the one-meter during the fourth day of competition.
To end the day’s competition, Boston University swept the 400-yard freestyle relay with the men’s team of Daniel Kempf, Matthew Rickett, Arik Seiler and Jackson Hill touching in 2:57.72, provisionally-qualifying for the NCAA Championship, snapping the conference record and outpacing the field by almost four seconds. The women’s squad of Kirsten Tullis, Emily Munday Maria McIntyre and Eve Kinsella lowered the conference record by three and a half seconds by touching in 3:24.30.
Day Four Results
Complete Results