WORCESTER, Mass. – Day two of the America East women’s swimming and diving championship closed out with new standards set in multiple events.
New Hampshire remains in the lead with 575 points heading into day three, while Vermont has notched a second place tally at 491 and UMBC has fallen into third with 458 points. Only six points separates the remaining two slots as Binghamton (327) and Maine (321) remain at fourth and fifth, respectively.
Session 4
Katie Mann swam to another record-breaking performance as she opened the day with a 400-yard IM preliminary time of 4:13.29, which meets the cutoff for an NCAA Consideration time. The previous America East Championship meet record (4:14.10) was set by Mann in 2012, when she was named Most Outstanding Swimmer by votes of the coaches. She missed the pool record (4:12.11) by just over a second.
Later in the morning session, Maine junior Naja Harvey and UMBC rookie Emily Escobedo each surpassed the in the 100-yard breaststroke pool and championship meet records of 1:03.08 and 1:02.48, respectively. Harvey set the new standard with a 1:01.90 preliminary time, while Escobedo raced to a 1:02.22 finish.
In the other morning session events, several swimmers set new personal-season records, many by several seconds.
Session 5
The evening session, kicked off with the 200-yard medley, in which the top-three teams knocked time off their season-best marks. The UMBC quartet consisting of Escobedo, Klara Pavelova, Talor Tadena and Erika Ronning shaved 5.26 seconds off their best performance to take first in the relay (1:42.68).
Mann struck again in the 400-yard IM as she lowered her time from earlier in the day from 4:13.29 to 4:12.91 to reset the league meet standard for the second time in a single day. She narrowly missed the pool record of 4:12.11 by 0.8 of a second.
The highlight of the day was in the 100-yard breast when two America East swimmers not only shattered the pool and conference meet records, but earned marks good enough for the NCAA “B” cut. UMBC rookie Emily Escobedo took home the gold as she paced the heat with a time of 1:01.58. Corrine Zotter of Binghamton followed just 0.3 milliseconds behind Escobedo (1:01.88) to secure the silver. The previous pool record of 1:03.08 was set in December 2013, while the America East league meet record was set by Allison Nahin of UNH in 2011 (1:02.48).
In the three-meter finale, the top-five divers improved upon their preliminary scores. Corinna Darelius of UMBC notched 261.70 points to finish out the meet for the gold, besting her preliminary score of 234.95. Kara Capossela of Maine and Nikki Zahka of New Hampshire finished second and third, respectively, with tallies of 247.75 and 222.60.
The Wildcats closed out the day in style with the foursome consisting of Roberts, Oneida Cooper, Lauren McCandless and Jenna Bull knocking off the pool record by more than 10 seconds. The squad finished with an impressive time of 7:21.47, 10.15 seconds faster than runner-up Vermont, which also surpassed the previously set pool mark, finished in 7:31.62.
The women’s swimming and diving championship continues tomorrow, February 16th at 10:00 a.m. with the 200-yard backstroke.
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). Join in the conversation at the America East Swimming & Diving Championships by using #AEChamps on Twitter and Instagram. Fans are also encouraged to take photos and use #AESelfie to have their photo show up on our photo album on AmericaEast.com and Facebook, as well as be retweeted on Twitter.
Women’s Day Two Results
1. New Hampshire, 576
2. Vermont, 491
3. UMBC, 458
4. Binghamton, 327
5. Maine, 321