LIBERTY LEAGUE – MEN AND WOMEN
- Dates: Wednesday, February 19-Saturday, February 22, 2020
- Location: Ithaca College – Ithaca, NY
- Defending Champion: Ithaca women; Rensselaer men (4x)
- Live Results: Available here
- Live Video: Available here
Courtesy: Liberty Athletics
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Liberty League Swimming and Diving Championships continued Thursday at the Kelsey Partridge Bird Natatorium at Ithaca College with five women’s events and six men’s events. Three meet records in five men’s events contested on the evening.
DAY 2 TEAM SCORES:
MEN: 1. RIT 780; 2. RPI 757; 3. Ithaca 751; 4. Vassar 455; 5. Clarkson 421.5; 6. Union 303; 7. Skidmore 181; 8. Bard 128; 9. St. Lawrence 112.5.
WOMEN: 1. Ithaca 768; 2. RIT 656; 3. Vassar 591; 4. RPI 570; 5. Union 382; 6. Skidmore 305; 7. St. Lawrence 278; 8. Clarkson 264; 9. William Smith 242; 10. Bard 118.
Highlights from Thursday’s championship action:
MEN
- Ithaca junior Stan Zanesky had another strong day. A day after winning the 50-yard freestyle, Zanesky swam to victory in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:41.50. He also opened Thursday’s finals session by leading off the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 20.48 over the first 50 yards. The time, which was an NCAA ‘B’ cut time, was both a school and meet record, breaking his mark of 20.55 set last year. The Bombers won the 200-free relay in 1:23.69. Zanesky capped off his evening by anchoring Ithaca’s 400-yard medley relay to a first-place finish in a school, meet and association-record time of 3:21.55. The time shattered the association record of 3:21.93 set in 2014 by Union College at the UNYSCSA Championship.
- RIT freshman Aidan Daudier, who finished fourth in the 200-yard individual medley on Wednesday, captured his first Liberty League championship as he won the 400-yard individual medley in a time of 4:06.02, beating runner-up Fernando Gomez Fischer (4:07.26) of RPI by more than a second.
- Another RIT freshman, Cameron Marcus, won the 100-yard butterfly in a meet-record time of 49.51. Marcus defeated two-time champion and previous record holder, senior Nate Bartalo of Ithaca, who finished in 49.69. Both swimmers eclipsed Bartalo’s record of 49.71 set last year.
WOMEN
- Union College senior Kerry Kelly earned her third straight Liberty League championship in the 400-yard individual medley. Kelly was third after the breaststroke, but used a strong freestyle to charge back. She closed with a time of 29.51 over her final 50 yards to post an NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 4:30.31.
- St. Lawrence sophomore Riley Gobora repeated as Liberty League champion in the 100-yard butterfly, swimming to a school-record time of 57.16.
- Vassar sophomore Jesse Ecklund won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:53.25. Ecklund, who recorded the top time in the preliminary session of 1:54.44, defeated RIT sophomore Phoebe Huey (1:54.21) in the final by nearly a second.
- Ecklund came back one event later, helping the Vassar 400-yard medley relay team to a first-place finish (3:53.43). The Brewer relay, consisting of Ecklund, Stephanie Kaplan, Lillian Lowenthal and Brynn Lautenbacher, edged second-place RIT (3:54.44) by one one-hundredth of a second.
- The RIT 200-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Sam Russell, Phoebe Huey, Khavy Sangasy and Alicia Shenal swam to victory in 1:35.97, defeating Ithaca (1:37.77) by nearly two seconds.
- RPI senior diver Jessica Kugelman won her first Liberty League championship, capturing the 1-meter competition with a score 467.35. Kugelman finished third on the 1-meter board and second on the 3-meter board last year.