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Day Three of the America East Swimming and Diving Championships
Orono, Maine - The University of Maine men's and women's swimming and diving teams compete in the preliminary heats of the 2007-2008 America East Championships this morning. The events Saturday include the 400 yard IM, 100 yard butterfly, 200 yard freestyle, 100 yard breaststroke, 100 yard backstroke, and the men's 3 meter dive. FINALS Keith Burgie finished fourth overall in the men's 3 meter diving competition. Burgie scored 260.65 points in the final round. Isaac Forbes placed 12th overall with a score of 184.10. In the women's 400 yard consolation final, Mackenzie Grobmyer got out to a quick start, leading the pack through the butterfly leg of the medley. As the swimmers headed into the backstroke, Grobmyer held the lead, while O'Donnell was in a tight race with Julie Cantwell of UMBC and Meagan Wengroove of UNH. Grobmyer kept the lead through the breaststroke, but Cantwell and Wengroove began to close the gap. O'Donnell used the breaststroke to hold fourth to herself. It came down to the wire between Grobmyer and Cantwell, but Grobmyer used her final turn to hold off Cantwell, winning the consolation final in a time of 4:36.20. O'Donnell finished fifth in the race in a time of 4:42.67. In a race that appeared to be deadlocked through the first 100 yards, Kerstin Fenton only trailed race leader Brigette O'Shaughnessy by slightly more than a second heading into the backstroke. As Fenton started her breaststroke, she was giving chase to Rebecca Godwin of UMBC and Nicole Underhill of UVM. However, in the second half of the race, Fenton could not catch Underhill and she finished with overall in a time of 4:41.24.
In the men's consolation final, Brian Smith dueled with Andrey Kopot of Stony Brook. Smith, who trailed through the first half of the race, took fourth place from Kopot in the breaststroke leg. Kopot however, regained fourth place from Smith in the freestyle, and Smith finished fifth in the consolation final in 4:26.25. Jeremy Bender, who fell behind early, could not overcome a strong 400 yard IM final class. Bender finished in eighth overall, in a time of 4:14.56. Four Black Bears competed in the 100 yard butterfly consolation final Friday night. Meag Fisher, the 15th place seed, fought her way to a 5th place finish, making her 13th overall. Fisher shaved nearly a second off her prelim time, posting a 1:00.52 in the finals. Levy finished seventh in the consolation finals in a time of 1:01.04. Doug Moulton took nearly 0.7 seconds off of his prelim time of 55.52, posting a 54.86 in the men's 100 yard butterfly. Moulton finished sixth in the heat, good for 14th overall, while David LaMarche hung up a 56.45 on the clock, making him 15th fastest butterfly stroke in the conference. Kari Boffa used a good start, and quick turns to hold second place through the first 100 yards of the 200 yard freestyle consolation final. However, in the last 50, Boffa was overtaken by two Retrievers and two Seawolves, finishing sixth in the heat and fourteenth overall, in a time of 1:58.00. In the championship final, Colleen Miller used a quick start to hold off Sarah Ryan of UMBC, finishing seventh overall in a time of 1:54.07. In arguably the most exciting race of the night, the men's 200 yard freestyle consolation final saw Cully Wakelin get out-touched by Brian Jacobs, Eric Gaffey, and Ben Kaiser. Wakelin's time of 1:44.73 makes him 12th overall in the conference. Kevin Staples got out to a huge lead through the first 100 yards. He could not sustain his lead however, and eventually was overtaken by the field, finishing eighth in the heat, sixteenth overall in a time of 1:46.66. Candace Coville, who entered the consolation finals as the 15th seed, was out-touched by Jessica Peters of Stony Brook for sixth place in the heat. Coville did however beat out Kristen Williams of Boston University, and finished 15th overall in a time of 1:10.68. In the championship final, the outside lanes matched up Caitlin Shelley versus Megan McLean. McLean, who went back and forth with Danielle Gallo of Binghamton the entire race, ended up finishing seventh overall in a time of 1:07.81. Shelley claimed eighth overall in 1:08.15. Dustin Carrier overcame an early deficit to Stony Brook's Keith MacDonald to take third place in the men's 100 yard breaststroke consolation final. Carrier touched the last wall at 1:02.28. Adi Levy started quick and used a late push to take second in the 100 yard backstroke consolation final in a time of 1:00.85. Mimi Chovanec tied with Rachel Kent of Vermont for fifth in the consolation final at 1:01.59. In the 100 yard backstroke championship final Courtney Healey hung tight with Kary Goodman of UNH and Kate Weaver of Vermont as the three all fought for third place. By the final turn however, Goodman had pulled away and Weaver used a late surge to lock up fourth place. Healey's time of 59.89 however, solidifies her as the fifth fastest 100 yard backstroke in the conference. The men's 100 yard backstroke consolation witnessed Tyler Isherwood (55.00) finish second in the heat, while Jamie Young (56.34) and Mike Goede (56.69) finish fourth and fifth respectively. The last event of the night was the men's and women's 400 yard medley relay. In the women's race, the foursome of Healey, McLean, Grobmyer, and Miller finished in sixth in a time o f 4:01.47. On the men's side, the Black Bear team of Isherwood, Carrier, Moulton, and Goede finished at a mark of 3:41.94, good for fifth place. PRELIMINARIES In the 400 yard IM, Kerstin Fenton fought her way to an eighth place seed for tonight's final. Fenton finished third in heat four, with a time of 4:38.47. The Black Bears will also send two swimmers to the consolation final tonight, as Mackenzie Grobmyer and Kiki O'Donnell finished 11th and 13th respectively. Grobmyer gave chase to BU's Amy Ruggiero in the final heat, but Ruggiero pulled away in the freestyle leg, and Grobmyer finished with a time of 4:40.14. In the third heat of the men's prelim, Jeremy Bender grinded out a third place victory, holding off a late surge from UMBC's Joseph Sementelli. Bender's time of 4:13.42 gave him an eighth place seed in tonight's finals. Brian Smith is seeded 13th with a time of 4:25.43, and Kyle Thornton narrowly missed the consolation finals cutoff with a time of 4:48.19. Two Black Bears will represent Maine in both the men's and women's 100 yard butterfly. Adi Levy is seeded 11th with a time of 1:00.19 and Meag Fisher is seeded 15th at 1:01.47. Nissa Marione swam a 1:01.80 in the event but did not qualify for the consolation final. Doug Moulton posted a personal best of 2008 at 55.52, while David LaMarche finished in 56.85. Moulton and Lamarche will face off in the consolation final tonight. In the 200 yard freestyle, Colleen Miller put up a time of 1:54.34, which will send her to the championship final tonight with an eighth place seed. Kari Boffa finished her heat in fifth place, in a time of 1:57.68, and she will also get a chance to swim tonight in the consolation final. Kevin "Outside Smoke" Staples snuck into the consolation final tonight after winning heat three in a time of 1:46.49. Cully Wakelin (1:44.45) will need to take down Kyle Berg and Ben Kaiser of BU in order to regain his ninth place title in the 200 yard freestyle. For the first time this year Maine will send two swimmers to the championship finals. Caitlin Shelley and Megan McLean will meet in the 100 yard breaststroke championship. Shelley is seeded seventh (1:07.58) and McLean is seeded eighth (1:07.73). Senior Candace Coville will also swim in the night session as she current sits in 15th place, after swimming a 1:09.89, nearly a three second improvement from last year. Dustin Carrier will look to best his 14th place finish in the 100 breast from last year in tonight's consolation final. Courtney Healey will take her best shot at the 100 yard backstroke championship in tonights final. Healey is seeded fifth overall after swimming a 59.57 in prelims. In the consolation final, Adi Levy will be joined by Mimi Chovanec, as Levy (1:00.79) sits in tenth and Chovanec (1:01.45) is currently tied for fourteenth. The Black Bear men will send five swimmer's to the consolation final. Tyler Isherwood (54.97), Mike Goede (56.44), Jamie Young (56.72), Chase Filaroska (57.53), and Dan Thornton (58.06) will take on two Seawolves and one Terrier tonight. Stay tuned to goblackbears.cstc.com for updated prelim times and results for Sunday's final day of competition. |
