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Swimming and Diving Championships Continue
Orono, Maine - The University of Maine swimming and diving teams competed in the 500 yard freestyle, 200 yard IM, 50 yard freestyle, and 1 meter diving championships on Friday. FINALS PERFORMANCES Mimi Chovanec got out to a quick lead in the 500 yard freestyle consolation final, getting through the 100 yard mark at 58.88. As the race approached the halfway mark Chovanec (2:32.82) had been overtaken by Cassie Dobrzanski from UMBC. Heading into the final 50 yard sprint Chovanec was fourth place, behind three UMBC Retrievers. Chovanec held off a late surge from Rachel Lesslie of UMBC to finish fourth in the consolation final, good for twelfth overall, in a time of 5:08.94. The women's 500 yard freestyle championship final was deadlocked through the first 100 yards. After the 200 mark, Danielle Surkovich of UMBC began to pull away from the pack, while Maine's Colleen Miller, UNH's Kiersten Wollenzien and BU's Liisa Young set their sights on fourth place. In the final 50 yards Wollenzien pulled away from Miller, and Colleen Miller finished fifth overall in the 500 yard freestyle, in a time of 5:03.99. Jeremy Bender and Jamie Young faced off in the men's 500 yard freestyle consolation final. In the first 150 yards Bender was in a tight battle with Stony Brook's Trevor Laehy and Binghamton's Michael Britvan. In the final 50 yards Bender trailed Britvan and Binghamton teammate Cole Courtemanche, and eventually finished in 4:49.75, which was good for fourteenth overall. Jamie Young finished sixteenth overall in 4:56.36. Caitlin Shelley, Meag Fisher, Kirsten Fenton, and Mackenzie Grobmyer competed against one another in the 200 yard IM consolation final. Caitlin Shelley held her first place lead through the breaststroke, but as she headed into the freestyle leg she was overtaken by Christina Cantwell of UMBC, and Shelley finished second in the heat, good for tenth overall in a time of 2:09.70. Grobmyer and Fisher battled for fourth place, but Grobmyer took the reigns in the last 50 yards, finishing fourth in 2:12.52 and Fisher fifth in 2:12.89. Fenton finished sixth in the heat, fourteenth overall, in 2:14.27.
In the quickest event of the evening, Cully Wakelin was out-touched by Rasmus Kutt of UMBC and Jonathan Eldor of Stony Brook, finishing sixth in the 50 yard freestyle consolation final. His time of 21.87 was good for fourteenth overall, edging Brian Koralewski of Binghamton and Eric Carlson of BU. PRELIMINARIES In the 500 yard freestyle, Colleen Miller won the seventh heat in a time of 5:03.14. Mimi Chovanec came in third in the sixth heat in 5:09.90, while Nissa Marione finished the fifth heat in a time of 5:19.74. Miller's time was good enough for a third place seed for tonight's final, while Chovanec is seeded tenth. For the men, Jeremy Bender finished fifth in the fourth heat in a time of 4:46.37. Bender will swim in the consolation final tonight as he is seeded thirteenth overall. Jamie Young edged teammate John Quinn for the final spot in the consolation final. Young finished in 4:55.42 while Quinn finished in 4:55.48. The 200 yard IM saw Caitlin Shelley finish fifth in heat four in a time of 2:10.78. Mackenzie Grobmyer and Meag Fisher squared off in heat five, with Fisher finishing fourth (2:13.05) and Grobmyer taking fifth (2:13.52). In the final heat of the 200 IM, three Black Bears competed, as Kerstin Fenton finished fourth in 2:12.19, Megan McLean touched the final wall at 2:15.81, and Kiki O'Donnell finished 23rd overall in 2:17.29. Shelley, Grobmyer, Fisher, and Fenton will meet again tonight in the consolation final. Brian Smith was the top finisher for Maine in the men's 200 IM, finishing in a time of 2:02.21. Kevin Staples was close behind Smith, as Staples posted a time of 2:03.64. Tyler Isherwood, Dan Thornton, Dustin Carrier and Kyle Thornton rounded out the field for the Black Bears. Cully Wakelin came up big in the third heat of the 50 yard freestyle. Wakelin finished second in the heat in a time of 21.70, which was good for an eleventh place seed for tonight's consolation finals. Doug Moulton finished 21st overall in a time of 22.40. Sara Knight placed 19th overall for the women after swimming a 25.29. In the 1 meter dive, Samantha Graham and Laura Williamson placed ninth and tenth respectively, narrowly missing the cutoff for finals. Graham scored 200.55 points, while Williamson scored 200.44. On Thursday afternoon in the 3 meter prelims, Graham finished eleventh overall, with 199.90 points, while Megan Barrett placed twelfth overall after scoring 193.35. The University of Maine men's and women's swimming and diving teams continue competition at the 2007-2008 America East Championships tomorrow. Stay tuned to goblackbears.cstv.com as results from Friday will be posted as they are made final. Results from Saturday morning's prelims will be posted as they are made available. |
