James Madison’s Jess Pryne Shatters School Record on Day 2 at ECACs

2022 ECAC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 25-27, 2022
• Lejeune Hall, US Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland
• 25 yards (SCY), Prelims/Finals
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Friday Finals Results
• Saturday Finals Results
• Saturday Team Scores

The James Madison women continued their charge at the 2022 ECAC Championships. JMU is one of two women’s programs that are using this week’s meet as a primary conference championship after being expelled from their regular conference championship events when their schools announced moves to new conferences.

Women’s Recap

JMU sophomore Jess Pryne broke the  own School Record in the 400 IM twice on Saturday.

She began with a 4:14.07 in prelims, which undercut Kelsey Holmgaard’s 2013 record of 4:15.58. She then followed that with a 4:12.64 in finals, winning the race by more than 11 seconds.

Pryne is a transfer from LSU and has had a massive breakout since joining the James Madison team. Her best 400 IM time at LSU was 4:16.6 (slower than her high school best), and she is now four seconds faster.

Pryne’s swim is the fastest in the CAA this season by four-and-a-half seconds. Only one swimmer in CAA history, Towson alumnus Meredith Budner in 2011 (4:10.67) has been faster.

Her teammate Madison Cottrell also put up a school record to win the 100 fly. Cottrell swam 53.34 in the 100 fly. That broke the record set by Andrea Criscuolo of 53.68 – also set in 2013.

Cottrell also won the 100 backstroke on Saturday in 54.29 and the 800 free relay in 7:21.86.

Other Day 2 Winners:

• Penn’s Catherine Buroker followed her best time and likely NCAA qualifier in the 500 free on Friday with a best time of 1:48.13 to win the 200 free on Saturday. That’s not a “B” cut for NCAAs, which means that she’ll likely just have two entries, the 500 and the mile, in March.
• George Mason’s Jacquee Clabeaux won the women’s 100 breaststroke in a Pool Record of 1:00.34. That broke the old Lejeune Hall mark set by Virginia’s Alexis Wenger in 2020, and also the Meet Record set by Rachel Stoddard in 2016. She was 1:00.16 to win the A-10 title last weekend, but was unable to improve enough to earn an NCAA Invite.
• The Richmond women won the 200 medley relay in 1:41.82.

Top 5 Women’s Teams:

1. James Madison – 451
2. Navy – 439.5
3. Penn – 314
4. Richmond – 250
5. Bucknell – 177.5

Men’s Recap

While the bulk of the Columbia men’s team was wrapping up a 5th-place finish at the Ivy League Championships, a handful of Lions were racing at ECACs.

That includes freshman Caleb Apodaca, who won the 400 IM in 3:53.64. That beat out Bucknell freshman Christopher Kopac, who finished 2nd in 3:53.94.

That time by Apodaca would have qualified him for the B-Final at the Ivy League Championships.

One race later, Columbia junior Andrew Fouty won the 100 fly in 48.00. His best time coming into the meet was 49.84 that he swam while still in high school in Alabama. That time would have made him Columbia’s second-fastest swimmer in the Ivy League finals among eight scoring swimmers.

Other Day 2 Winners:

• The Navy men won the 200 medley relay in 1:29.21, with Eli Williams splitting 19.39 on the anchor leg to hold off Marist’s Ahmed Sallam. Marist was 2nd just .15 seconds back.
• Army-West Point’s Sean Dwyer won the men’s 200 free in 1:37.00. That’s about half-a-second slower than his third-place finish at the Patriot League Championships.
• Loyola (MD)’s Max Verheyen won the 100 breast in 53.33. That shaves .15 seconds off his previous best time in the event.
• Rider’s Lucas Racevicius won the 100 back in 48.15. He was 2nd in this event at the MAAC Championships earlier this month in 48.12.
• Navy continued their relay dominance with a 6:36.57 in the 800 free relay, which came within seven-tenths of a second of the Meet Record. Bucknell placed 2nd in 6:41.91, including a 1:37.20 split from Christopher Kopac.

Top 5 Men’s Teams:

1. Navy – 549.5
2. Columbia – 249
3. Bucknell – 244.5
4. Rider – 217
5. Yale – 209