2015 CAA Swimming & Diving Championships: Day 2 Finals Real-Time Recaps

2015 Colonial Athletic Association Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships

• February 25th-28th, 2015
• Richmond, Virginia
• Defending Champions: Towson (women), UNC-Wilmington (men)
• Live Diving results.
• Live Swimming results.
• Championship Central (with live video links).

This could be a really fast evening session, as one meet record already went down this morning. In the 200 IM, William & Mary sophomore Jeremiah O’Donnell’s 1:46.48 this morning beat the record set last year by fellow Tribe swimmer and last year’s Swimmer of the Meet Andrew Strait.  Going into this evening, the defending champion Towson women lead W&M 72-70 after last night’s results, and the W&M men looking to dethrone UNCW and their thirteen consecutive conference championships after the Tribe won both relays last night. Neither of those scores take into account diving, however, leaving W&M in deficit on both sides that will have to be overcome.

This morning, Towson sophomore Macey Arnold was the top seed in the women’s 500, posting a time of 4:45.89. Towson junior Charlotte Holz came within a second of the meet record in the 200 IM with a 1:58.94, and Delaware’s Morgan Whyte’s 22.60 finished first in the 500 free. On the men’s side, Delaware’s Cory Camp (4:25.81) was the top seed in a very Towson-heavy field and UNCW senior Drew Gaertner led a field marked by a deep UNCW sprint group as the top qualifier with a 20.40.

Women’s 500 Free – Final

The Towson women kicked off the night by going 1-2 in the 500 free.  Top seed Macy Arnold led the race from start to finish, touching in a time of 4:46.51.  Her time was .62 slower than her preliminary time, but still over four seconds ahead of second place finisher and fellow Towson swimmer Liz Saint (4:50.86).   James Madison got a third and fourth place finishes from Cameron Martin (4:52.14) and Quinn MacMillian (4:53.64).  W&M’s Selina Fuller and Towson’s Corie Mortin tied for fifth (4:53.89).  JMU’s Kristen Zielinski (4:54.44) and Delaware’s Brittany Lazear (4:58.00) swam to seventh and eighth place finishes.

With rules in place limiting how many swimmers from one team could advance to the A-finals, the B-final saw quite a few fast times that would’ve placed in the A-final, including Hannah Synder dropping over two seconds from this morning (4:52.71).

 Men’s 500 Free – Final

This race was much closer, with the lead changing hands multiple times over the course of the race.  In the end, Delaware’s Cory Camp pulled ahead in the final laps to defend his top seed from this morning, finishing with a NCAA B cut of 4:24.05.  However, Towson continued to display its distance prowess, as Matt Lowe (4:24.79), Matt McKinney (4:25.51), Matt Collingwood (4:26.13), Jon Burr (4:26.55), and Brandon Ross (4:28.12) finished second through sixth. W&M freshman Tommy Kealy finished seventh (4:28.36) and UNCW’s Stephen Topping touched eighth in 4:31.06.

Through the 500, Towson women lead over James Madison 137-116, and the Towson men have a 151-105 lead over William & Mary.

Women’s 200 IM – Final

Towson’s Charlotte Holz used a dominant breaststroke leg to become the only woman to finish under 2:00, touching in 1:59.40.  William & Mary’s Allie Christy won the race for second place (2:00.98), out touching Northeastern’s Anna Schegoleva (2:01.00) and Delaware’s Annie Nunes (2:01.35).  The fifth-though-seventh place finishers were also bunched together.  Delaware junior Madeline Maher touched in 2:03.04, James Madison’s Katie Parker finished sixth in 2:03.71, and UNCW’s Hannah Stephenson rounded out this group with a 2:03.71.  William & Mary’s Shannon Harrington finished eighth in 2:07.11.

Men’s 200 IM – Final

Jeremiah O’Donnell looked to be out of it after the first two legs, but used a monster back half to overtake fellow Tribe swimmer Will Manion, and set a new CAA record with a 1:46.38.  Manion finished second in 1:47.44, and William & Mary swept the top three positions as freshman Alex Montes de Oca swam a 1:48.27.  W&M also got a sixth-place finish from Josh Zimmt (1:50.04).  Delaware’s Alex Tooley touched fourth in 1:49.84.  Drexel’s Kyle Lukens was out first with a 22.79 fly split, but ultimately faded to fifth (1:49.89).  Towson’s Noah Pritchard (1:52.12) and College of Charleston’s Elijah Bohon (1:52.22) finished seventh and eight.

Patrick Savidge of Delaware had a notable B-final swim.  His 1:49.67 would have placed fourth in the A-final.

Not taking diving points into account, the W&M men have taken the lead after the 200 IM.

Women’s 50 Free – Final

Morgan Whyte of Delaware denied the Towson women the opportunity to sweep the individual events tonight.  She only dropped 0.01 from this morning, but that was enough to secure first place with a time of 22.59.  W&M swimmer Jaimie Miller finished second in 22.79.  Fellow teammate and defending champion Megan Howard tied with Towson’s Amanda Barber for third, both touching in 22.91.  James Madison picked up a fifth-place finish with Susanne Ginger‘s 23.14.  College of Charleston finish sixth and seventh as Jayme Groth touched in 23.26 and Sarah Graif was just behind her in 23.39. Rounding out the A-final was William & Mary’s Abby Mack in 23.57.

Men’s 50 Free – Final

Three individual races tonight, three different schools with first place finishes.  Joel Berryman picked up Drexel’s first individual victory with a time of 20.11.  College of Charleston’s Alex Wood touched second in 20.41, followed by Tribe swimmer and defending 100/200 free champion Billy Russell (20.51).  Top seed Drew Gaertner (UNCW) was a bit off his time from this morning, finishing fourth in 20.55.  Two other Seahawks followed, with Adam Salzman and Alex Labonge finishing in 20.63 and 20.83.  With three A-finalists, UNCW will probably be the favorite to repeat as champions in the 200 free relay, coming up shortly.  Charleston’s Will Kantlehner finished seventh in 20.84, and W&M’s Taegan Clarke finished 8th in 20.97.

Going into the 200 free relay, Towson women and W&M men lead, not including one of two diving events.

Women’s 200 Free Relay – Final

The Tribe women led from wire-to-wire.  It looked like it was going to be a duel between W&M and JMU, but Delaware swimmer Morgan Whyte had a monster anchor leg.  With a 22.24 split, she nearly ran down W&M’s Sara Schad, but ran out of pool and finished 0.03 behind, 1:31.86 to 1:31.83.  JMU earned third with a 1:32.25.  The Towson women finished fourth in 1:33.08 and College of Charleston’s 1:33.80 got them fifth.  Drexel finished sixth with a 1:34.25, Northeastern seventh in 1:35.07, and UNCW eighth in 1:35.42.

Men’s 200 Free Relay – Final

Wowzers.  Four teams appeared to be neck and neck at the finish, and in the end, three teams finished within .02 seconds of each other.  Drexel’s Joel Berryman led off in 20.09, which was actually .02 seconds faster than he won the individual 50 free earlier this evening and Drexel won with a 1:21.25.  Delaware’s Nicholas Badsky appears to have been the only swimmer to split under 20 seconds, and his 19.85 anchor earned Delaware a tie for second with William & Mary, both schools finishing in 1:21.27.  The College of Charleston looked to be in it over the last few yards and finished fourth in 1:21.78.  UNCW seems to have had a stranglehold on this event of the past few years, but placed fifth in 1:21.78.  Towson finished sixth in 1:22.94.

Scores Through Day 2 (via Meet Mobile)

Women:

1.  Towson – 264

2.  James Madison – 245

3.  William & Mary – 208

4.  Delaware – 207

5.  Northeastern – 122

6.  UNC Wilmington – 105

7.  College of Charleston – 97

8.  Drexel – 80

Men:

1.  William & Mary – 245

2.  UNC Wilmington – 222

3.  Towson – 203

4.  Drexel – 183

5.  Delaware – 179

6.  College of Charleston – 157