WHITE RIVIER JUNCTION, VT – The Saint Joseph's College men placed ninth with 170 team points in the 2012 New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships.
Nine different SJC swimmers combined to compete in 14 finals events – nine individual, five relay – with 19 championship-round appearances over 50 competitions in the 2012 NEISDA Championship. The Monks' 19 finals appearances more than doubles the total achieved by the team over the last three years combined and 14 program records fell in this year's regional event.
The SJC men capped the program's most successful season with an impressive performance in the 2012 NEISDA's. The Monks shattered the team record for points in the regional championship, which was set last year with 82 points in a 12th-place effort.
DAY ONE
The Monks kicked off the final events with a foursome - Chris Cullity '15 (North Reading, Mass.), Brian Grasser '12 (Groton, Conn.), Thomas Smith '14 (New Hartford, Conn.) and John Holmes '15 (Norwood, Mass.) – in the 200-Free relay. The group finished 10th overall with a team-record 1:35.27 time.
Adam Gaulin '14 (Belfast, Maine) appeared in the 50-Breast finals and broke the program record with a 13th-place time of 28.76. Kevin Towne '12 (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Stewart Emery '15 (Augusta, Maine) both advanced to the 200-Back finals on Friday, with the former posting a 15th place time of 2:14.36 and the latter finishing in 16th (2:20.82).
Holmes notched a 10th-place effort in the 50-Free finals with a program-best 22.31 time and the Monks capped the opening day when Towne, Gaulin, Antonio Delvecchio '15 (Middlebury, Conn.) and Holmes combined to record a ninth-place, and new team record, time in the 400-Medley relay (3:50.52).
Saint Joseph's was in 11th place with 46 points through the 18 events that were held on Friday. With 355 points, Keene State sits atop the 12-team slate while Bentley (308), Roger Williams (230), Norwich (140) and Regis (125) round out the top five teams on the first day.
DAY TWO
The second day opened with an impressive sixth-place finish in the 200-Medley relay, as Towne, Gaulin, Delvecchio and Holmes combined to post a new program-record time of 1:42.50. For the SJC men's program, the sixth-place effort is the best in the team's five years of participation in the NEISDA Championship.
Next up for the Monks was Delvecchio, who finished 10th in the 200-Free (1:52.92) and set a new team mark with a 1:52.18 time in the prelims. Towne, Cullity and Preston Bowden '15 (Biddeford, Maine) placed 12th (59.61), 15th (1:02.12) and 16th (1:04.36), respectively, in the 100-Back finals and Towne's 58.71 time in the prelims also counts as a new program best.
Gaulin notched his second individual finals appearance of the regional event with a 16th-place time in the 100-Breast (1:03.89) and Cullity, Gaulin, Smith and Delvecchio combined to finish seventh in the 800-Free relay with a 7:46.32 mark, a time that obliterated the Monks' previous best in the event by over 30 seconds.
Saint Joseph's sat in ninth with 119 team points through two days and 34 total events. The Monks have posted 13 finals appearances in 10 events – six individual, four relay, thus far. Keene State remains in first with 623 points with Bentley (587), Roger Williams (465), Norwich (289) and Regis (258) rounding out the top five competing programs.
DAY THREE
Holmes advanced to his second final event with an appearance in the 100-Free and placed 10th with a team-record 49.47 effort. Delvecchio, also making his second trip to the championship round, finished five slots behind his teammate with a 50.96 time.
Towne, who posted the Monks' highest individual finish in the NEISDA's with an eighth-place effort in the 200-Back last year, did one better with a seventh-place performance in the 50-Back (26.66). His 26.51 time in the prelims ranks as a new program best. Bowden also advanced to the 50-Back finals and placed 14th with a 29.29 effort.
Gaulin earned a trip to the finals in the 100-IM and placed 12th with a team-record 58.71 performance.
Delvecchio, Smith, Gaulin and Holmes proceeded to post a team-best 3:26.00 time in the 400-Free relay, the final event of the regional championship.
With 885.5 points, Bentley University held on to win the men's championship, narrowly edging Keene State (875), a program that saw its three-year title run come to an end. Roger Williams (680.50), Norwich (398) and Regis (361) rounded out the top five finishing programs.
Bentley also captured the women's crown in this years NEISDA Championship.
