LEXINGTON, Va. – It was a great day for the Bryant women and the UMBC men as both extended their lead on the third night of competition at the 2026 #AESD Championship hosted by VMI. 

The Bulldog women, in search of their first America East championship, amassed 272 points to end day three with 582 points.  Defending champion, New Hampshire sits in second place with 455 points; Vermont is in third place with 414 points, while UMBC is fourth with 338. 

The UMBC men finished with 591.5 points at the end of the day, doubling their lead against Binghamton, who is second with 546 points. Bryant sits in third (382.5) while VMI climbed into fourth with 309 points.  
 

Day 3 Highlights  

• Ruby Tonelli-Smith from Bryant secured a new meet record in her 100 fly prelim run and bested that in the finals of the 100 fly setting a new meet and conference record with a time of 53.10. Joey Strauss of Maine won the men’s 100 fly, by over a second, in 46.64  

• UMBC’s Alice Marini took home gold in the 400 IM with a time of 4:20.99, winning by over two seconds. On the men’s side, Binghamton’s Harrison Lambert outlasted NJIT’s Borys Endle for the victory, touching the wall in 3:55.07, winning by .27 seconds. 

• Repeat champion, Lydia Hart from New Hampshire, won her second individual gold of the meet, claiming the 200 free in 1:47.80. On the men’s side, Binghamton’s Evan Peters won the 200 free in 1:36.79. 

• Bryant’s Jocie Niemczyk won her first gold in the 100 breast, touching the wall in 1:01.58, beating Ellie Fazio by just 0.09 seconds. Cam Stetzer of Binghamton won the men’s 100 breast in a time of 53.99 seconds. 

• Vermont’s Natalie Schick took home her first 100 back title in 54.86, with UMBC freshman Quinn Marchionini earning gold on the men’s side in 48.03 over Drew Celler of NJIT (48.84). 

• Binghamton freshman Samuel Pikofsky-Christianse won the 1-meter diving with a score of 308.20 taking down 3-meter champion Christopher Buonocore.  

• The Bryant women earned gold in the 400-meter medley relay, swimming a 3:41.34 to finish more than one second ahead of New Hampshire, while the UMBC men won their third straight relay title, claiming the 400-meter medley relay in a time of 3:13.37. 
   

ABOUT AMERICA EAST 
Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference and its social media channels, @AmericaEast. 
  
- America East Conference – Where Champions Rise -