Lexington, Va. – The Vermont Catamounts claimed their first #AESD Championship in program history while Binghamton won for the second time in the last four years to cap a thrilling #AESD Championship held at Goodall Pool on the campus of Virginia Military Institute.
Vermont won its first-ever #AESD Championship with 683 points behind a total team effort and just edged out New Hampshire who finished with 671 total points. Bryant was close behind in third with 635.5 points. UMBC was fourth with 466 points.
The Bearcats left no doubt on the final day of competition, taking three of the top seven spots in the 1650 and didn’t look back, capturing its first championship since 2021 with 795.5 points. The Bulldogs earned their first runner-up finish with 709.5 points, while UMBC took third with 518 and NJIT was fourth with 514.5.
COMPLETE RESULTS
There were a number of impressive performances on the final night of competition, including Ella Guilfoil who captured her third individual goal of the weekend in the 200 back with a time of 1:56.93. She was honored as the Swimmer of the Meet at the end of the evening for her standout efforts.
Daniel Nicusan broke his own conference mark in the 200 breast by nearly two seconds, in 1:55.58, and in the process captured his fourth consecutive gold in the event. The time was also an NCAA B cut. It was the fitting ending to a marvelous career. He was named Swimmer of the Meet, won the coaches award for points at the meet and earned the Lifetime Award for most career points earned of anyone at this year’s championship. He finished his impressive career with 230 points and nine individual golds.
The night was capped off by New Hampshire setting a new conference & meet record in the women’s 400 free relay with its time of 3:21.97 and the Binghamton men claiming a new meet record in the men's 400 free relay with its time of 2:57.42.
In diving, Chris Buonocore of Bryan was honored as Men’s Diver of the Meet after sweeping both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. UMBC freshman Ember Stennett was named Women’s Diver of the Meet after winning the 3-meter and taking second in the 1-meter.
NJIT’s Laith Sabbath was honored as the Men’s Rookie of the Meet, while Ashley Gutshall of UMBC took home Women’s Rookie of the Meet honors.
Vermont’s Gerry Cournoyer as honored as Women’s Coach of the Meet while Binghamton’s Jerry Cummiskey was the Men’s Coach of the Meet.
Megumi Komoto earned the women’s Elite 18 Award as the senior has a 4.0 GPA as a Business Administration and Spanish double major. The men’s Elite 18 Award winner was Ian Horstkamp-Vinekar of NJIT. He is a senior chemical engineering major with a 4.0 GPA.
Nicusan earned the Men’s Lifetime Award while Abby McKinney of New Hampshire took home the women’s award for most career points earned by any active swimmer. She concluded her career with 173.5 points, including a third place finish in the 200 free and 100 free this year.
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