BOSTON, Mass. – Saint Joseph's College placed third with 105 points in the 2014 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Swimming & Diving Championships at Simmons College over the weekend. The men placed fourth with 114 points.
For the women, the finish ranks as the program's best since the Monks placed third with 130 points in the 2010 GNAC Championship. The men have finished fourth in each of the past four seasons.
Sophomore Erin Weir (North Andover, Mass.), junior Anne Fougere (Warner, N.H.), junior Alexandra Krasco (Melrose, Mass.) and junior Brooke Huberdeau (North Andover, Mass.) opened the day with a third-place finish in the 200-Medley Relay (2:07.78).
Sophomore Lauren Halvorsen (South Portland, Maine) headlined the day by placing second in the 1650-Free with a 19:54.31 time while second-year Danielle Charette(Westfield, Mass.) finished fourth in the 100-Back (1:08.81) and sixth in the 50-Back (32.38).
Sophomore Lauren Prue (Glenburn, Maine) was fifth in the 400-IM (5:39.90) and sixth in the 50-Breast (37.25), Fougere placed fifth in the 50-Breast (35.82), and junior Olivia Pickering (South Portland, Maine/Cheverus) placed sixth in the 400-IM (5:53.21).
Halvorsen, Fougere, Charette and Huberdeau combined to post a third-place finish in the final swimming event of the day, the 800-Free Relay (8:59.19).
On the men's side, junior Andrew Merlino (Natick, Mass.), senior Adam Gaulin (Belfast, Maine), sophomore Ben Johnson (Belmont, Mass.) and senior Preston Bowden (Biddeford, Maine) began the final day by placing third with a 1:48.14 effort in the 200-Medley Relay.
Johnson was the runner-up in the 200-Fly (2:13.66) and placed fifth in the 50-Breast (31.41) and junior Alexander Gilvey (Windham, Maine) placed third in the 100-Back (58.28) and 50-Back (27.66) events.
Gaulin was fourth in the 50-Breast (30.87) and fifth in the 200-Breast (2:33.16), Merlino notched a fourth-place time (2:24.15) in the 200-Fly, and Bowden finished sixth in the 50-Back (29.21) in the men's championship.
Saint Joseph's returns to action at Simmons College on Sunday, January 16th.
SIMMONS COLLEGE RELEASE:
200 free relay: Simmons (Chloe Davis, Joleigh Ferro, Sarah Price, Miriam Swisher), 1:42.64
500 free: Kevyn Lee, Simmons, 5:42.38
200 IM: Haley Bowen, Regis, 2:17.14
50 free: Miriam Swisher, Simmons, 24.40
100 fly: Michaela Morris, Simmons, 1:02.25
200 free: Miriam Swisher, Simmons, 1:57.57#
100 breast: Natalie Giraldi, Simmons, 1:07.84#P
50 fly: Michaela Morris, Simmons, 27.71#
200 back: Jessica Higgins, Regis, 2:15.94#
400 medley relay: Simmons (Miriam Swisher, Natalie Giraldi, Michaela Morris, Chloe Davis), 4:10.25#P
1-meter diving: Kim Royer, USJ, 155.80
200 medley relay: Simmons (Joleigh Ferro, Natalie Giraldi, Michaela Morris, Julie Nguyen), 1:56.09#P
1650 free: Emilie Lindholm, Simmons, 19:51.20
50 breast: Natalie Giraldi, Simmons, 31.28#P
100 back: Jessica Higgins, Regis, 1:03.73
100 free: Miriam Swisher, Simmons, 51.75#P
400 IM: Hannah Plourde, Simmons, 4:58.34#
200 breast: Haley Bowen, Regis, 2:29.50#
200 fly: Michaela Morris, Simmons, 2:23.99
50 back: Miriam Swisher, Simmons, 27.36#P
800 free relay: Simmons (Julie Nguyen, Hillary Wong, Emily Papp, Sarah Price), 8:27.77#P
2014 GNAC Men's Swimming & Diving All-Invitational Team
200 free relay: Norwich (Chris Danieli, Asa Wolfe, JP Myers, Patrick Ogden), 1:32.38
500 free: Nick Cirillo, Elms, 5:09.29
200 IM: Kiet Luong, Regis, 2:03.15
50 free: AJ Graf, Regis, 22.17#
100 fly: Mark Wallehauser, Norwich, 54.68
200 free: Cassidy Bastinelli, Regis, 1:46.79#
100 breast: Charles McAuley, Norwich, 1:05.18
50 fly: Kiet Luong, Regis, 23.54#
200 back: Everett Howard, Norwich, 2:07.16
400 medley relay: Regis (Kiet Luong, A.J. Graf, Nick Rainville, Cassidy Bastinelli), 3:44.27#
1-meter diving: Tim Smith, Husson, 250.30
200 medley relay: Norwich (Ryan Hanley, Charles McAuley, Mark Walleshauser, Chris Danieli), 1:42.43
1650 free: Nick Cirillo, Elms, 17:50.48#
50 breast: Charles McAuley, Norwich, 29.53
100 back: Kiet Luong, Regis, 54.72
100 free: A.J. Graf, Regis, 48.72
400 IM: Stefan Koberl, Norwich, 4:35.48#
200 breast: Charles McAuley, Norwich, 2:27.56
200 fly: Kiet Luong, Regis, 2:03.94#
50 back: Mark Walleshauser, Norwich, 26.68
800 free relay: Regis (Nick Rainville, Kiet Luong, A.J. Graf, Cassidy Bastinelli), 7:20.75#
# – GNAC record
P – Holmes pool record
#GOMONKS
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.