BOSTON- The UMBC men won their third-straight conference title and the New Hampshire women earned back-to-back league crowns at the 2006 America East Swimming & Diving Championship at Boston University's Aquatic Center. The four-day event concluded on Sunday evening.
The Retriever men (878.50 points) finished the meet with a decisive 201-point lead over second-place Binghamton University (667.50). Stony Brook University (667) finished only one-half point behind Binghamton and 190 points ahead of fifth-place Boston University (487). University of Maine (320) and University of New Hampshire (188) rounded out the rest of the competition.
Despite winning only three events, the UMBC men gathered the majority of their points via second- and third-place finishes. Ryan Karrer won the 1650-freestyle with a time of 15:31.99 to break the meet record. Justin Bronson won the 500-freestyle (4:28.79) while his teammates followed close behind taking the top six places on the medal stand.
Binghamton’s Kaan Tayla, the America East Most Outstanding Swimmer, won the 50-freestyle, 200-freestyle relay, 200-freestyle, 100-freestyle and 200-medley relay and broke the America East Championship record in all five events. Boston U.’s Brian Lawler took second in the one-meter dive and first in the three-meter dive and was named Most Outstanding Diver.
Boston University’s Mike Kelly has tallied an impressive 191.5 points throughout his four seasons as a Terrier to earn the America East Coaches’ Award, which is given annually to the senior student-athlete that accumulates the most points in the championship meet over their entire career.
Stony Brook’s Rafael Labour was also honored as the Most Outstanding Rookie, while Stony Brook took home the Diving Coaching Staff award and shared the Swimming Coaching Staff accolade with Binghamton.
On the women’s side, UNH topped all teams with 787 points and was followed closely by UMBC (733). Third-place Boston University (550) placed third and was followed by Maine (433), Stony Brook (367.50), Vermont (314) and Binghamton (210.50).
New Hampshire’s Shannon Daly, the women’s America East Coaches’ Award winner (261 points in four seasons), tallied 60 points this weekend and set the pace for the Wildcats by winning and setting meet records in the 800-free relay (7:30.70), the 200-medley relay (1:45.21), 200-individual medley (2:02.28), 100-breast (1:03.38), 400-medley relay (3:49.26) and the 200-breast (2:14.85). Teammate Kary Goodman, the Most Outstanding Swimmer, added the Wildcat’s total by winning and setting meet records in the 200-medley relay, 100-back (56.07), 400-medley relay and 200-back (2:00.43). Goodman also won the 200-butterfly (2:00.92).
UMBC’s Ashlee Houghton took second in the three-meter dive and first in the one-meter dive enroute to being named the Most Outstanding Diver, while teammate Danielle Surkovich took home the hardware for the Most Outstanding Rookie. Boston University earned the Diving Coaching Staff honor, while UNH earned the Swimming Coaching Staff award.