Black Bear Swimming & Diving Complete Day One of ECAC Championships

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The University of Maine men's and women's swimming and diving squads completed day one of the ECAC Championships on Friday evening. After one day of competition, the women rank sixth of of 18 teams with 78 points while the men are 14th with 12 points.

The women's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Jenn Trodden (Reading, Mass.), Samantha Mathieu (Oakland, Maine), Lauren Dwyer (Orono, Maine) and Emily Buczkowski (Woolwich, Maine) placed fourth with a time of 1:37.24.

Dwyer, after winning a swim-off to qualify for the finals in the 50-yard freestyle, placed eighth in the event's final with a time of 24.68.

Kara Capossela (Greenwich, Conn.) led the way for Maine on the diving board as she placed sixth in the women's 1-meter event with a score of 228.80.

The women's 400-yard medley relay team placed seventh in the fianls with a time of 3:58.06. Swimming the event for Maine was Courtney Mellish (Barrie, Ontario), Erica Smrcina (North Falmouth, Mass.), Taylor Sharp (Burlington, Ontario) and Tayler Bayer (Portage, Ind.).

On the men's side in the 400-yard medley relay, Matt England (Bangor, Maine), Ryan Fahey (Quincy, Mass.), Cameron Dwyer (Orono, Maine) and Shane Kinnon (Malden, Mass.) finished 11th overall with a time of 3:32.49.

Prelims:

Dwyer tied for eighth in the women's 50-yard freestyle qualifier with a time of 24.35. Dwyer then had to swim in a swim-off to see who would advance to the finals. Dwyer won her swim-off to qualify her for the eighth and final spot in the championship round.

The Black Bear women's 200-yard freestyle team of Trodden, Mathieu, Dwyer and Buczkowski qualified for the finals in the event with a fifth place time of 1:37.15.

Mellish, Smrcina, Sharp and Bayer set themselves up for the finals in the women's 400-yard medley relay with a seventh place time of 3:58.11.

Shannon Bender (Cumberland, R.I.) finished 17th in the women's 200-yard IM with a time of 2:09.06. Trodden touched the wall 22nd in the event at 2:10.67 while Abby Linn (Elkhart, Ind.) was 31st in 2:13.55.

The men's 200-yard freestyle relay team placed 17th with a time of 1:28.84. Cameron Dwyer (Orono, Maine), Shane Kinnon (Malden, Mass.), Matt England (Bangor, Maine) and Brent Williams (Clifton, Maine) swam the event for the Black Bears.

Carmen Linden (Ottawa, Ontario) placed 31st in the women's 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:12.74 while Katie-Jean Hinckley (Prospect, Conn.) placed 37th at 5:16.87.

Williams touched the wall in 28th in the men's 500-yard freestyle in 4:47.53 while Ryan Fahey (Quincy, Mass.) placed 31st at 4:50.73.

Taylor Sharp (Burlington, Ontario), Buczkowski and Smrcina placed 20th (24.62), 21st (24.65) and 22nd (24.75), respectively, in the women's 50-yard freestyle while Emily Puleio (Saco, Maine) finished 31st in the event at 25.16.

Kinnon placed 45th in the men's 50-yard freestyle event with a time of 22.21.

The men's 400-yard medley relay team of England, Dwyer, Fahey and Kinnon placed 15th with a time of 3:38.42.

-U-M-