CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The UMBC men and the Boston University women will look to defend their respective championship reigns at the 2011 America East Swimming and Diving Championship. The Retriever men have won seven straight America East titles while the Terrier women have won the last two championship meets. The 2011 championship will take place February 17-20 at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center in Boyds, Md., hosted by UMBC.
The UMBC men were predicted to defend their title in the preseason coaches’ poll. To do that, the Retrievers will once again look to the veteran leadership of seniors Brad Reitz (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) and Eric Jones (Gambrills, Md./Arundel). Reitz will look to defend the 200 fly, an event that he has won in each of the past three seasons. Reitz comes in with the third-fastest time in the event this season (1:50.94) behind only teammates Jones (second – 1:50.87) and sophomore Pierre De Waal (Pretoria, South Africa/Tuks Sport/Cleveland State)(first – 1:50.49). Jones, in addition to his ranking in the 200 fly, is among the top-four qualifiers in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle events, coming in with the top time in the 200-yard free. Newcomers De Waal and freshman Johan Rohtla (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary Science) also have a chance to earn points for the Retrievers. The men also have strength in the diving events as sophomore Andrew Eckhoff (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) enters the championship meet as the top qualifier on the one-meter board (299.55) and the No. 2 qualifier on the three-meter board (300.68).
The Boston University men hope to unseat the Retrievers. The Terrier men have taken home second place in each of the last three America East Championship meets. This season, the Terriers come in with a chance to challenge for the crown, as they have the top qualifier in more than half of the meet’s events. Boston U. is led by senior Kyle Ernst (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk), last year’s champion in the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes. Ernst holds the top times in America East in those events this season. He also holds the conference’s top time from 2010-11 in the 200-yard IM. Junior Daniel Kempf (Austin, Texas/Lyndon Baines Johnson) is also looking to defend a title as he comes .44 seconds off the pace in the 100-yard free. Kempf is also the favorite in the 50-yard free.
Binghamton University finished third at last season’s championship and looks to improve on that finish this year. Senior Jason Chen (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) will anchor the Bearcat swimmers. Chen is ranked third in the 200-yard IM, posting a season-best time of 1:53.03 on January 22. The senior is also the No. 6 swimmer in the 100-yard fly and No. 7 in the 200-yard fly.
Stony Brook University will look to senior Lukasz Ochmanski (Lodz, Poland/Kosciuszko Memorial) for leadership. Ochmanski enters the championship meet with the conference’s top time in the 100-yard freestyle. He also holds the season’s second-fastest mark in the 200 free.
University of Maine will look to score some points on the diving boards where the Black Bears are led by freshman Tim Smith (Bangor, Maine/Bangor). With a solid first year at Maine, Smith is ranked second on the one-meter board and third on the three-meter board.
On the women’s side, Boston U. looks to earn its third consecutive conference title. The Terriers return three individuals who won events at last year’s conference meet. Amanda Schmitz (Pleasanton, Calif./Foothill) placed first in the 200-yard fly, 400-yard IM and 500-yard free at the 2010 America East Championship. She returns this season as the top qualifier in each of those events. Additionally, she is the only female swimmer in the conference to break the two-minute mark in the 200 fly this season, clocking in with a season-best time of 1:59.83. In the 50 free, Maria McIntyre (Herndon, Va./Chantilly) looks to defend her title as she posted the conference’s top time of the season, 23.73. On the boards, sophomore Melinda Matyas (Budapest, Hungary/Eotvos Jozsef Gimnazium) will again look to sweep both the one- and three-meter dives as she did her freshman year.
UMBC, last year’s runner-up, also returns a 2010 champion in junior Abbey McKenney (Wilmington, Del./Brandywine). McKenney won the 100-yard freestyle in 2010 and is favored in the event in 2011. She posted a season-best time of 50.98, less than one second ahead of junior teammate Ashley Miller (New Smyrna Beach, Fla./New Smyrna Beach), who posted a time of 51.64 and is ranked second in the event. Sophomore Tara Morrissette will also compete for a few individual titles. She enters the championship meet as the No. 2 qualifier in the 200-yard fly as well as both the 200- and 400-yard IMs.
University of New Hampshire, which was predicted to finish third this season, will look for a strong showing from veterans senior Amy Perrault (Kirkland Lake, Ontario/Ecole Catholique) and Allison Nahin (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead High School). Perrault has taken six individual titles in her three trips to the conference meet. She is the defending champion in the 200-yard IM, the two-time defending champion in the 200-yard backstroke and the three-time defending champion in the 100-yard backstroke. She holds the conference’s top time in each of those events this season and is also the favorite in the 400 IM. Nahin is also a two-time champ, taking the 100 breaststroke title in each of the last two seasons.
University of Vermont will look to senior Kate Weaver (South Burlington, Vt./South Burlington) and sophomore Kailey Gardner (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca). Weaver is a top-10 qualifier in the 200-yard freestyle (ninth), 100-yard backstroke (sixth) and 200-yard backstroke (fourth) while Gardner ranks among the top-10 in the 400 IM (ninth) and 1650 free (sixth).
Binghamton University will look to improve on last season’s sixth-place finish. To do that, the Bearcats will need strong performances from senior Amanda Ciccone (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) and sophomore Tiffany Siu (Hong Kong, China/S.T.F.A. Leung Kau Kui ). Ciccone posted a season-best times of 24.11 in the 50 free and 56.44 in the 100-free, both of which rank fourth in the conference. Siu’s time of 4:26.06 in the 400 IM has her in the conference’s top three qualifiers.
Stony Brook University has received a strong season from freshman swimmer Renee Deschenes (Winnipeg, Manitoba/College Louis-Riel), who ranks third in America East in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events.
University of Maine is another squad that has a freshman with a chance to score points. Freshman diver Kara Capossela (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) ranks third among America East women on both the one- and three-meter boards. At one point this season, Capossela put together a string of 14 straoght combined wins at both heights.
The 2011 America East Championship begins February 17 at 5 p.m. with the men’s one-meter dive preliminary round. For more information on the championship meet, visit Championship Central at AmericaEast.com.