BOSTON, MA - The Sharks of Simmons College took home their ninth Great Northeast Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving title in ten years in Sunday night's finale of the two-day championship event.
Simmons finished the meet with 270 points, ahead of Elms (216), Saint Joseph CT (206), Saint Joseph's ME (76), Norwich (75) and Husson (54). Nine GNAC records fell over the course of the meet, which featured 100 athletes from the six GNAC teams.
GNAC Commissioner Joe Walsh and Simmons Director of Athletics Ali Kantor presented first-place Simmons and runner-up Elms with award plaques at the conclusion of the racing. The Blazers captured ten first-place finishes in the finals to secure the second-place spot behind the Sharks.
The Monks notched 27 best-individual swim times with a pair of season-best relay times in the two-day event. Two team records were broken as well, as Hannah Gajewski '12 (Biddeford, ME/McAuley) improved upon her own 1650-Free record by over 10 seconds and Christine Cote '13 (Biddeford, ME) posted a new top mark in the 50-Free (27.54).
Gajewski earned the Monks' lone victory in the GNAC Championship meet with a 19:45.41 effort in the 1650-Free. She won the event well ahead of runner-up Amanda Mason from Husson, who notched a 20:16.01 time and finished nearly two pool lengths behind the SJC junior. With the win, Gajewski earned GNAC All-Tournament Team honors for the third consecutive season.
Saint Joseph's also notched eight new cuts for the New England Championship meet. Gajewski posted 'A' qualifying times in the 200-Free (2:09.93) and 1650-Free (19:45.41) and Rose Maccarrone '12 (Hingham, MA) registered 'B' times in the 50-Free (28.61) and 100-Breast (1:21.49) competitions.
Jamie Wojtkiewicz '12 (Bedford, NH) recorded an 'A' qualifying time in the 100-Free (1:01.59) and a 'B' time in the 200-Back (2:36.48) and Anne Roberts '12 (Hopkinton, NH) notched a 'B' time in the 50-Back (34.92). Elizabeth Thomas '14 (Norwood, MA) earned an 'A' time in the 50-Breast with a 37.96 performance.
Meghan Lyons '11 (Danvers, MA), Jessica Dorney '12 (Warwick, RI) and Misha Leister '14 (Weymouth, MA) also posted career-best times in the annual conference competition.
Saint Joseph's will open the 2011 portion of the schedule with a meet at Husson on Saturday, January 15th at 1:00 PM.
2010 Swimming & Diving All-Tournament Team:
200 Free Relay – Suki Hood, Kristine Ellegard, Kelsey Cronin, Shannon Dunn (SJC)
500 Free – Devon Degrazia (Elms)
200 IM- Ashley Kirchner (Elms)
50 Free- Tessa Dudunake (Elms)
100 Fly- Sarah Wheeler (SJC)
200 Free- Devon Degrazia (Elms) GNAC RECORD 2:05.66
100 Breast- Anne Vayda (Norwich)
50 Fly- Ashley Kirchner (Elms)
200 Back- Amanda Mason (Husson)
400 Medley Relay- Devon Degrazia (GNAC RECORD 100 Back leg 1:05.31), Tessa Dudunake, Ashley Kirchner, Emalee Furtek (Elms) GNAC RECORD 4:22.04
3 Meter Diving- Amanda Dirksmeier (Simmons) GNAC, POOL, TEAM RECORD 333.60
1 Meter Diving- Amanda Dirksmeier (Simmons) GNAC RECORD 233.30
200 Medley Relay- Devon Degrazia (GNAC RECORD 50 Back leg 29.23), Tessa Dudunake, Ashley Kirchner, Emalee Furtek (Elms) GNAC RECORD 1:57.27
1650 Free- Hannah Gajewski (SJM)
50 Breast- Tessa Dudunake (Elms)
100 Back- Virginia Bette (Simmons)
100 Free- Devon Degrazia (Elms) GNAC RECORD 55.92
400 IM- Amanda Mason (Husson)
200 Breast- Anne Vayda (Norwich)
200 Fly- Sarah Wheeler (SJC)
50 Back- Devon Degrazia (Elms)
800 Free Relay- Anne Karasek, Molly Bohannon, Amy Davis, Virginia Bette (Simmons) GNAC RECORD 8:46.38
COURTESY OF SIMMONS COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION
