WHITE RIVIER JUNCTION, VT – The Saint Joseph's College women placed 16th with 174 team points in the 2012 New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships. The regional event began on Friday and came to a close on Sunday.
Five different SJC swimmers combined to compete in 11 finals events – six individual, five relay – with 12 championship-round appearances over 50 competitions in the 2012 NEISDA Championship. The Monks' 19 finals is one more than the team has posted over the last three years combined and nine program records fell in this year's regional event.
For the Monks, a team that has participated in the NEISDA's in each of the last five seasons, both the 16th-place finish and the 174 points rank as program-bests. Prior to this showing, the team's top finish was 17th (2009) and the points high, 106, came last year.
DAY ONE
The Monks kicked off the regional event in the 200-Free relay, as Christine Cote '13 (Biddeford, Maine), Rose Maccarrone '12 (Hingham, Mass.), Jamie Wojtkiewicz '12 (Bedford, N.H.) and Mandy Avella '15 (Londonderry, N.H.) came together to notch a 15th-place finish with a new team record time of 1:49.50.
Next up was Avella, who advanced to the finals in the 50-Breast and placed 20th with a 34.84 effort. Hannah Gajewski '12 (Biddeford, Maine/McAuley) proceeded to make history for the Royal Blue by posting a sixth-place effort – the highest finish ever posted by an SJC women's swimmer in the NEISDA's - in the 200-IM (2:18.68). The senior standout broke the team record with a 2:17.92 time in the prelims.
Wojtkiewicz added a 21st-place effort in the 200-IM (2:26.46) and Avella, Maccarrone, Gajewski and Wojtkiewicz wrapped up the first day with a 17th-place finish in the 400-Medley relay (4:29.66, a new team best).
Saint Joseph's was 17th out of 22 teams with 75 points after one day (18 events) of competition. Bentley University sat in the top spot with 557 points while Keene State (511), Assumption (382), Eastern Connecticut (281) and University of New England (234) round out the top five institutions.
The second day began for the Monks with the 200-Medley relay and Avella, Maccarrone, Gajewski and Cote combined to post an 18th-place finish with a team record time of 2:03.05.
Wojtkiewicz proceeded to notch her second finals appearance of the regional event with a 20th-place effort in the 400-IM (5:16.20) and Gajewski, also making her second finals trip, placed 16th in the 200-Free (2:07.24) and broke the team record with a 2:05.40 performance in the prelims.
Capping day two was the grouping of Cote, Wojtkiewicz, Maccarrone and Gajewski, who made up the 800-Free relay team that placed 14th and broke the program record with an 8:37.95 effort.
The Monks jumped up one spot to 16th as the Royal Blue carried 131 team points through two days (34 events) at the NEISDA's. Bentley remains as the top team with 1,054 points while Keene State (974), Assumption (797), Eastern Connecticut (558) and Roger Williams (437) close out the top five competing programs.
St. Joe's has seen five team members advance to the final rounds in eight events (four individual, four relay) with nine total championship-round appearances through 34 competitions. St. Joe's has broken seven team records thus far.
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DAY THREE
Avella began the final day with a 17th-place time in the 50-Back (30.53) and Gajewski, making her third and final championship round appearance of her senior campaign, recorded a 15th-place effort in the 100-IM (1:05.87).
Gajewski capped the regional event with three finals appearances, highlighted by the best individual finish (6th, 200-IM) at the NEISDA's in SJC program history, and broke three team records in her last collegiate competition. The senior captain also helped Saint Joseph's break team records in four relay events (200-Medley, 400-Medley, 400-Free, 800-Free) over the last three days. One of the elite swimmers in the young program's five-year history, Gajewski completes her career owning a program-high nine team records.
Gajewski, Wojtkiewicz, Avella and Cote proceeded to post a team-best 3:54.69 time in the 400-Free relay, the final event of the regional championship.
Bentley University, winners of the men's championship, completed the sweep with 1,552.50 points on the women's side. Keene State (1,358) finished second, Assumption (1,061.50) was third, Eastern Connecticut (773.50) placed fourth, and Roger Williams (672) ended the three-day event in fifth place.
