BOSTON, Mass. – The 2015 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Swimming Championship concluded on Sunday evening and the Saint Joseph's College women's team finished as the runner-up with 401 points while the men place fifth with 58 points.

For the women, the runner-up finish is the Monks' second in the last nine years and first since 2008. The women also obliterated the program's GNAC Championship points record, which previously stood at 130 points (2009).

Simmons College claimed the program's 12th-consecutive GNAC title with 1,194 team points while Regis College finished just behind Saint Joseph's with 399 points. University of Saint Joseph (390), Husson University (370), Elms College (351) and Norwich University (229) rounded out this year's women's field.

Overall, the Saint Joseph's women's team featured eight individuals who combined to compete in 27 finals events and four relay races with 25 top-10 finishes, including eight top-five performances.

Junior Ben Johnson (Belmont, Mass.) highlighted the weekend for the men by winning the 200-Fly with a team-record 2:07.76 effort, which was more than three seconds faster than the previous mark that he set earlier this season. With the win, Johnson becomes just the second SJC men's swimmer to claim All-GNAC honors as he joins teammate Alexander Gilvey (Windham, Maine), who won a pair of events in the 2011 conference meet, on the short list.

Johnson broke three of the Monks' individual records over the weekend as the junior standout produced new high-water marks in the 200-IM (2:09.89) and 50-Fly (25:30) on Saturday.

On the men's docket, Norwich University earned a fifth-consecutive GNAC Invitational crown with 324 points, well ahead of runner-up Regis College (240) while Elms College placed third (131) and Husson University barely edged the Monks for fourth with 59 points.

Overall, the Saint Joseph's men's team featured three individuals who collectively advanced to the final round in 12 events with top-six efforts in each race.

THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN:

• Junior Lauren Halvorsen (South Portland, Maine) finished fourth in the 1650-Free (20:13) and 14th in the 100-Free (1:07.06) for a total of 18 points
• Junior Lauren Prue (Glenburn, Maine) was fourth in the 100-IM (1:11.29), which earned the Monks 15 points
• Senior Annie Fougere (Warner, N.H.) placed fifth in the 50-Breast (35.42) and seventh in the 200-Breast (2:49.33) for a total of a team-high 26 points
• Freshman Julia Rowlett (Saco, Maine) was sixth in the 100-Back (1:09.67) and 10th in the 100-IM (1:13.91) for 20 points
• Senior Brooke Huberdeau (North Andover, Mass.) finished eighth in the 100-Free (1:00.62) for 11 points
• Senior Allie Krasco (Melrose, Mass.) placed ninth in the 100-IM (1:13.77) and 50-Back (33.78) events with 18 points
• Sophomore Leia Berube (Brewer, Maine) was 12th in the 50-Back (38.00), good for five points
• Junior Brittany Dalphonse (Coventry, R.I.) garnered two points with a 15th-place finish in the 100-IM (1:26.22)
• The combination of Berube, Fougere, Prue and Krasco swam to a sixth-place finish with a 2:13.87 effort in the 200-Medley relay, which notched 26 points for the Monks
• The quartet of Halvorsen, Dalphonse, Prue and Huberdeau combined to post a third-place finish in the 400-Free relay (4:24.75), an effort worth 32 points

THE RUNDOWN – MEN:

• Junior Ben Johnson (Belmont, Mass.) topped the field with a 2:07.76 time in the 200-Fly and finished sixth in the 100-IM (1:00.62) for a team-high 12 points
• Senior Alexander Gilvey (Windham, Maine) placed third in the 100-Back (58.74) and fifth in the 50-Back (27.87) for 10 total points
• Senior Andrew Merlino (Natick, Mass.) finished fifth in the 200-Fly (2:27.02) and sixth in the 100-Back (1:02.43) for three points

DAY 2 PRELMININARY RECAP

GNAC RELEASE (Courtesy of Simmons College Sports Information):

SIMMONS WINS 12TH STRAIGHT GNAC WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIP; NORWICH EARNS FIFTH STRAIGHT INVITATIONAL TITLE

BOSTON, Mass. – The Simmons College women's swimming and diving team won its 12th straight Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship and the 14th in the last 15 years this evening at the Holmes Sports Center Natatorium on the campus of Simmons in Boston, Mass. The Norwich University men's team won the GNAC Invitational for the fifth consecutive year.

The Sharks tallied 1194 points, while Saint Joseph's College (Maine) finished second with 402 points. Norwich won the invitational with 324 to outscore Regis College's men, which recorded 240 points.

A total of 10 more GNAC records were broken on the night, between the women's and men's teams, including three individual and two relay marks for each gender.

Junior Miriam Swisher (Albuquerque, N.M.) won a pair of events for Simmons with a win in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.05 and a victory in the 50-yard backstroke after clocking in at 27.82 to win by more than two seconds. Sophomore Natalie Giraldi (Bedford, N.H.), first year Laura Simpson (Perkiomenville, Pa.) and sophomore Michaela Morris (Duxbury, Mass.) all set individual GNAC records for the Sharks. Giraldi broke her own conference and pool mark in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 31.13 and also placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke to score 37 points for the night. Simpson shattered the school and league championship record for the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:58.42 to erase the GNAC standard by almost 58 seconds and eclipse the former school record set by Keri-Ann Arsenault in 2006 by nearly 39 seconds. Simpson also placed third in the 100-yard freestyle for Simmons. Morris set her third GNAC butterfly record of the championship meet with a time of 2:18.91 in the 200-yard fly to win the race by almost 12 seconds. She also finished third in the 100-yard backstroke to give her 76 points for the entire meet to match Simpson for the most points in the two-day meet.

Junior Jordan Mattheisen (Seattle, Wash.) placed in three events for the Sharks to rack up 42 points to lead all competitors for the night. She placed fourth in the 50-yard breaststroke, fifth in the 100-yard freestyle and sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke. First year Kerry Fleming (Northampton, Mass.) and junior Alison Gauvin (Whitefield, Maine) each turned in first place efforts for Simmons. Fleming won the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 1:03.45 and added a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, while Gauvin earned the top score in the three-meter diving event with a score of 159.55. Fleming scored 74 points to mirror Giraldi as the Sharks' third-leading scorers for the meet.

Simmons began and ended the night with a GNAC-record showings in relay events. The Sharks won 200-yard medley relay on a time of 1:51.58 with Swisher swimming the backstroke leg, followed by Giraldi's breaststroke leg, Morris' butterfly effort and Fleming's freestyle anchor leg. The Sharks posted a conference-record mark of 3:45.59 in the 400-yard freestyle with Simpson setting the pace, followed by junior Julie Nguyen (Salem, Mass.), Mattheisen and Swisher.

Sophomore Lara Sarett (Smithtown, N.Y.) won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:32.67 and placed second in the 50-yard breaststroke tally 37 points to lead Husson University to a fifth-place finish with 370 points. Sarett was the meet's third-leading scorer for the two days with 74 points. Regis was led by 34 points from first year Molly Belles (Scranton, Pa.), who earned a pair of second-place efforts in the 50 and 100-yard backstroke, respectively. Sophomore Jessica Higgins (Peabody, Mass.) placed first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:02.46 for the Pride and finished the weekend with 56 points to top Regis, which finished third as a team with 399 points. First year Veronika Latawiec (Newington, Conn.) placed third in the 50-yard backstroke for University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) and fourth in the 100-yard backstroke to record a team-high 31 points and finished as the meet's ninth-highest scorer with 61 points overall. The Blue Jays finished fourth in the meet with 390 points.

Norwich's men boasted a pair of swimmers, who each placed first and second during the night for 16 points apiece. First year Jacob Rubin (Johns Creek, Ga.) won the 100-yard freestyle with a mark of 48.08 and placed second in the 100-yard individual medley, while junior Ryan Hanley (Wiscasset, Maine) led the field with a time of 56.34 in the 100-yard backstroke. He also posted a second-place finish in the 50-yard backstroke. First year Dylan Henderson (Commerce Township, Mich.) finished second in the 50-yard breaststroke as part of a 16-point night for the Cadets.

Regis' junior Kiet Luong (Malden, Mass.) added two more GNAC records to bring his total to a maximum of four for the weekend. He won the 50-yard backstroke in 24.51 after taking the 100-yard individual medley with a mark of 54.30. Junior Bryan Johnson (Sudbury, Mass.) placed first in the 200-yard breaststroke for Regis with a time of 2:18.07 and added a fourth-place effort in the 100-yard freestyle. Luong and Johnson were part of the team's GNAC record-breaking 200-yard medley relay squad in addition to sophomore Nick Rainville (Reading, Mass.) and junior Cassidy Bastianelli (Newton, Mass.). The Pride also won the 400-yard freestyle relay in GNAC-record fashion with Luong, Rainville, Johnson and Bastianelli putting together a time of 3:18.35.

Elms College scored 131 points as a team to finish third and was led by junior Ryan Burgos (Plaistow, N.H.) with 27 points to tie for fifth in the entire meet. He won the night's 1650-yard freestyle with a GNAC-record time of 17:35.01 and also finished fifth in the 100-yard backstroke. Junior Ben Johnson (Belmont, Mass.) led Saint Joseph's College with a 200-yard butterfly time of 2:07.76 to earn first place and help the Monks to 58 points to place fifth. Husson junior Grant Gerber (Portland, Maine) won the only event he entered, clocking in at 29.46 to claim the 50-yard breaststroke. The team finished fourth with 59 points.

(L-R) GNAC Commissioner Joe Walsh, Head Coach Margaret Howe, Brooke Huberdeau, Annie Fougere & Allie Krasco

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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 474-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.