ORONO, Maine – After a pair of second-place finishes at last year’s America East swimming and diving championships, the men and women from UMBC are taking aim at a sweep in 2013. Prior to their runner-up finish in 2012, the men had won eight straight championships, the most in conference history. The women have won three times since 2007, with back-to-back titles coming in 2007 and 2008. The rest of the league will attempt to become the first non-Boston U. or UMBC champion – men’s or women’s – since 2006, when New Hampshire claimed the women’s crown.
The Retriever men enter with big expectations for three of their senior standouts. Pierre De Waal (Pretoria, South Africa), Andrew Eckhoff (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Mohamed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt) are all capable of delivering multiple wins in Orono this week. De Waal excels in the freestyle and butterfly events, the 200-yard variations in particular. Eckhoff comes in as the defending champion and top seed in both the one and six-meter dives. Hussein claimed three victories at last year’s championship, including record-setting efforts in both the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard individual medley.
Binghamton will lean on Devin Zdanowski (Rochester, N.Y.) as the top contender to Eckhoff on the boards. The sophomore earned all-conference honors as a rookie at last year’s championship meet. Senior Tim Cabasino (Long Beach, N.Y.) has the top conference time this year in the 100-yard butterfly and should also be a factor in the freestyle events. Maine’s Yuri Chornobil (Rochester, N.Y.) is someone to watch in the freestyle and breaststroke events.
For the women, UMBC will look to hold off a very strong field behind the efforts of Claire Barron (Lowestoft, England) and Klara Pavelkova (Prague, Czech Republic). Barron, a senior, was named America East Female Swimmer of the Week on two occasions this season, while Pavelkova should be a top contender in both the 50 and 100-yard backstroke events. Another name to watch will be Katie Bean (Mechanicsville, Va.), who has the second-best conference score this season on the one-meter boards.
New Hampshire figures to be a top threat to UMBC behind seven 2012 all-conference performers. Among that group is last year’s Most Outstanding Swimmer, Katie Mann. As a freshman, Mann (Prince George, B.C.), won three events and set new conference records in both the 200 and 400-yard individual medley events. Junior Lauren McCandless (Macungie, Pa.) is the two-time defending champion in the 1650-yard freestyle and set the conference record back in 2011. Also helping the Wildcats' title hopes will be Jennifer Roberts (Springvale, Maine), who comes in with the top conference time in five different events this season.
After a fourth-place finish a year ago, Vermont is looking to break into the top three. The Catamounts boast a strong duo in 2011 all-conference performer Kailey Gardner (Ithaca, N.Y.) and freshman Christa Weaver (South Burlington, Vt.). A senior, Gardner comes into the championship with the top time in the 1650-yard freestyle while Weaver is one of the top swimmers in freestyle sprints.
Rounding out the field are Binghamton and Maine. The Bearcats are strong in both the 200 free and 400 medley relays, led by sophomore Corinne Zotter (Vestal, N.Y.). Oliva Baczek (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) joined Zotter as Binghamton’s only all-conference performers a year ago. Maine will lean on Kara Capossela (Greenwich, Conn.) as one of the top divers in the conference. The junior was named Female Diver of the Week four times this season. Sophomore Naja Harvey (Orono, Minn.) is one of the top competitors in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Log on to AmericaEast.com to view the swimming and diving Championship Central page for schedules, past results and more. You can also follow along with the championship via the conference twitter account (@AmericaEast).