Black Bears Compete at Day Two of America East Championships; Harvey Sets New 50-freestyle Mark

BOSTON, Mass -- The swimming & diving squads completed day two of the America East Championships on Friday evening at the Boston University Aquatics Center. Naja Harvey (Orono, Minn.) had the top finish of the day earlier this afternoon when she set a new school-record time of 23.78 in preliminaries of the 50-yard freestyle event. After two days of action, the men's team sits in fifth place at 109 points while the women are seventh with 115.5 points.

Harvey, Lauren Dwyer (Orono, Maine), Jenn Trodden (Reading, Mass.) and Emily Buczkowski (Woolwich, Maine) set a new school-record mark in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:35.81. The new time bested the old mark of 1:36.02 set earlier this season by the same group.

Carmen Linden (Ottawa, Ontario) kicked off the individual finals by placing seventh in the 'B' finals of the 500-yard freestyle, good for 15th overall, with a time of 5:05.81. Michael Capossela (Riverside, Conn.) followed with a fourth place finish, 12th overall, in the 'B' finals of the 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 4:36.68.

Trodden placed eighth in the 'B' final of the 200-yard IM, 16th overall, with a finals time of 2:09.17. Harvey turned her 50-yard freestyle preliminary record-breaking performance into a fifth place finals finish, touching the wall at 24.03. Dwyer placed 12th overall in the 50-yard free event with a 'B' finals time of 24.31.

Andrew Meehan (Brewer, Maine) placed sixth in the 50-yard freestyle event, 14th overall, with a time of 21.70. Joey Quinn (Bangor, Maine) was right behind Meehan, placing 15th overall in 21.93.

Kara Capossela (Greenwich, Conn.) was Maine's top finisher in the three-meter dive as she placed sixth with a score of 231.95.

Meehan, Quinn, Capossela and Caleb Hoffman (Waterville, Maine) placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay for the men. The team touched the wall at 1:26.78.

--PRELIMINARIES--

Day two started with the preliminary events as Linden kicked things off with an 11th place finish in the 500-yard freestyle at 5:04.00 while Thornbrough added a 16th place finish with a time of 5:08.66.

Capossela followed by narrowly missing out for qualifying for the 'A' finals in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:36.57. Yuri Chornobil (Rochester, N.Y.) placed 17th in the event at 4:44.47 while Robbie Bickford (Milford, Maine) placed 18th at 4:45.54.

Trodden was the top finisher in the 200-IM prelim with a time of 2:07.47, good for 12th place.

Harvey had the time of the day for the Black Bears as she set a new school-record in the 50-yard freestyle. The freshman placed second in the event with a new record time of 23.78, breaking the old time of 23.84 set by Jessie Ellis-Alcaide in 2007. Dwyer placed 15th in the event with a time of 24.52.

On the men's side, Meehan was the top Maine swimmer in the 50-yard free, placing 12th with a time of 21.34 while Quinn placed 15th in 21.74.

Capossela set herself up for the finals with a sixth place dive in the three-meter event after scoring 221.65.

The Black Bears return to the pool tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. for day three, beginning with the preliminary events.

-U-M-