Men's Swimming Opens Season with Win; Women Fall at URI

KINGSTON, R.I. -- The men's and women's swim teams opened up the 2012-13 season on Friday evening at the University of Rhode Island. The men's team defeated URI 202-88 while the women fell in a tight match by a score of 155-143. Shannon Bender (Cumberland, R.I.) picked up three wins to lead the women's team while freshmen David Vittori (South Berwick, Maine), Matt England (Bangor, Maine) and Sergey Terrio (Oakland, Maine) each picked up a pair of victories on the men's side.

Bender took first place honors in the 1000-yard freestyle (10:43.06) the 200-yard backstroke (2:10.81) and the 200-yard IM (2:13.08). Sophomore Naja Harvey swept the breaststroke events with first place showings in both the 100-yard (1:07.01) and the 200-yard (2:27.30) events. Erica Smrcina (North Falmouth, Mass.) dominated the butterfly events with first place finishes in both the 100-yard (57.83) and the 200-yard (2:08.77).

Lauren Dwyer (Orono, Maine) had strong showings in three events, taking second in the 100-yard freestyle (54.11) and third in both the 50-yard freestyle (25.12) and the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.26). Carmen Linden (Ottawa, Ontario) and Taylor Sharp (Burlington, Ontario) each had third place finishes to assist the Black Bears.

Kara Capossela (Greenwich, Conn.) paced Maine on the diving boards as she won the three-meter with a score of 249.15 and placed second in the one-meter with a final score of 246.29.

A trio of freshmen paced the men to victory. Vittori won the distance events as she placed first in both the 500-yard freestyle (4:59.37) and the 1000-yard freestyle (10:22.31). England took first place honors in both the 100-yard backstroke (55.72) and the 200-yard backstroke (2:04.41) while Terrio swept the butterfly events with first place finishes in the 100-yard fly (53.86) and the 200-yard fly (2:00.66).

Cameron Dwyer (Orono, Maine) finished first in the in the 200-yard freestlye (1:48.21) and second in the 100-yard fly (54.36). Joey Quinn (Bangor, Maine) took first place in the 50-yard freestyle (22.91).

Robbie Bickford (Milford, Maine) finished second in both the 200-yard freestyle (1:49.34) and second in the 500-yard freestyle (5:05.73). Shane Kinnon (Malden, Mass.) also had a pair of second place showings, finishing second in both the 100-yard backstroke (56.25) and the 200-yard back (2:07.82).

Caleb Hoffman (Waterville, Maine) was second in both breaststroke events (1:02.22) (2:21.15) while Jon Davis (Collierville, Tenn.) was second in the 50-yard free (23.26) and the 100-yard free (51.56).

Travis Wibby (South Portland, Maine) led the men's squad on the diving boards as he placed second in both the one-meter (224.85) and the three-meter (190.42).

England, Hoffman, Gaulin and Quinn led the men's 200-yard medley relay team to a win with a time of 1:40.24. Emily Buczkowski (Woolwich, Maine), Harvey, Smrcinia and Jenn Trodden (Reading, Mass.) placed second in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:48.22.

Tayler Bayer (Portage, Ind.), Linden, Katie-Jean Hinckley (Prospect, Conn.) and Emily Puleio (Saco, Maine) paced the women's 400-yard freestyle team to a second place finish with a time of 3:37.87.

The swim teams return to action on Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. when they travel to battle Bryant.

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