School-Records Continue to Fall for Maine on Day Three of America East Championships

BOSTON, Mass. -- The school-records continued to fall on day three for the Black Bears as Maine set or re-set a total of seven school marks Saturday. The women's team currently sits in fifth place with a score of 199 while the men are sixth at 207.5.

Erica Smrcina (North Falmouth, Mass.) broke her own mark in the morening session of the 100-yard fly event before re-breaking the school-record with a new mark of 56.24 in the finals, good for third place overall and the top Maine finish thus far at the Championships.

Ryan Fahey (Quincy, Mass.) won the 'B' final in the 400-yard IM with his new school-record time of 4:04.02, besting Jeremy Bender's old mark of 4:05.52.

Andrew Meehan (Brewer, Maine) broke his own school-record time in the 100-yard fly as he placed seventh in the event with a new record mark of 50.42. Meehan set the old mark in 2011 with a time of 50.71.

Naja Harvey (Orono, Minn.) placed second overall in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:04.17. Jenn Trodden (Reading, Mass.) won the 'B' final in the event with a time of 1:05.04. Abby Linn (Elkhart, Ind.) placed 11th with a time of 1:05.97 while Smrcina was 15th at 1:07.10. Dana Wright (Twin Falls, Idaho) tied for 15th, also placing with a time of 1:07.10.

Shannon Bender (Cumberland, R.I.) placed 11th overall, third in the 'B' final, the 400-yard IM with a final time of 4:31.05 after breaking Coach Lizzotte's school-record mark earlier in the day in the preliminaries. Lauren Thornbrough (San Diego, Calif.) followed Bender with a 12th place finish, fourth overall in the 'B' final, with a time of 4:31.66. Courtney Mellish (Barrie, Ontario) was 15th in the event with a time of 4:36.89.

Lauren Dwyer (Orono, Maine), Harvey, Smrcina and Jenn Trodden (Reading, Mass.) set a new mark in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:52.32, good for fifth place overall.

Michael Capossela (Riverside, Conn.) finished 11th overall, third in the 'B' final, in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:06.93. Brent Williams (Clifton, Maine) placed 15th in the event with a time of 4:16.99 followed close behind by Cody Lachance (Winslow, Maine) who was 16th at 4:17.87.

Eric Gaulin (Northport, Maine) touched the wall 13th in the 100-yard fly with a time of 51.97 while Andrew Mackeil (Biddeford, Maine) was 15th at 52.10. In the 200-yard freestyle 'B' final, Yuri Chornobil (Rochester, N.Y.) placed 13th with a time of 1:44.78 while Joey Quinn (Bangor, Maine) was 16th at 1:47.45.

Maine had three swimmers place in the 'B' finals of the 100-yard breaststroke with Caleb Hoffman (Waterville, Maine) leading the way in 13th with a time of 59.40. Zach Hamer (Andover, Mass.) placed 15th at 1:00.11 while Brian Landry (Yorktown, Va.) was 16th at 1:01.11. Mackeil finished 14th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.85 and was followed by Jon Davis (Collierville, Tenn.) (57.17) and Matthew Twist (Belgrade, Maine) (57.52).

--PRELIMINARIES--

Harvey set herself up for a solid shot to win the 100-yard breaststroke as she tied for the top seed with a new Maine school-record time of 1:03.48 in the event. Bender also set a new school-mark as she took Coach Lizzotte's 400 IM record off the boards with a new time of 4:29.93, placing her in 11th overall. Coach Lizzotte's previous time of 4:31.97 had held strong since it was set in 1996. Thornbrough followed Bender in the event with a time of 4:36.17 while Mellish placed 15th at 4:38.36.

A third record was dropped by the Black Bears as Smrcina re-set her own mark from 2011 in the 100-yard fly. Smrcina's new school-record time of 56.40 placed her fourth in the prelim.

Dwyer placed 17th in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.60 while Grace Barnett (Bangor, Maine) was 18th in the 100-yard butterfly at 59.57.

The Black Bears were well represented in the 100-yard breaststroke event. After Harvey's top seeded time, Trodden placed ninth with a time of 1:05.50. Linn touched the wall 11th with a time of 1:05.68 while Wright was 15th at 1:06.81. Smrcinia followed Wright in 16th with a time of 1:07.03.

On the men's side, Fahey placed 10th in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:06.62 and was followed closely behind by Capossela who touched the wall 11th at 4:07.32. Williams was 15th in the event at 4:16.39 while Lachance placed 16th in 4:19.52.

Meehan secured his spot in the 'A' final in the 100-yard fly with a time of 50.74. Gaulin placed 13th in the event at 51.66 while Mackeil was 14th with a time of 51.68. Connor Devers (North Attleboro, Mass.) finished 17th in the event with a time of 54.31.

Chornobil and Quinn turned in back-to-back finishes in the 200-yard freestyle event at 13th and 14th, respectively. Chornobil finished the event at 1:44.01 while Quinn touched the wall at 1:44.89. Robbie Bickford (Milford, Maine) placed 17th in the event at 1:45.97.

Hoffman was Maine's top finisher in the 100-yard breaststroke as he placed 11th with a time of 59.31. Landry placed 14th in the event at 59.79 and was followed by Hamer who finished 15th at 59.88.

Mackeil earned Maine's top spot in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing 13th at 54.10. Davis was 15th in the event at 57.22 while Twist placed 16th at 57.40.

The Black Bears will close out the 2012 America East swimming and diving championships tomorrow with prelims again beginning at 10 a.m. from the Boston University Aquatics Center.

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