WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VT – The Saint Joseph's men's swim team is in ninth place with 167 team points after two days of the 2013 New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships. As a result of inclement weather, Saturday's preliminary round was cancelled and the day began with the finals at 4:00 PM.
Freshman phenom Alexander Gilvey (Windham, Maine) made history with the best individual NEISDA finish in the program's six-year history when he placed third with a 55.36 effort in the 100-Back. His time in the 26th event of the three-day championship also bested his own team record by 1.02 seconds.
Along with Gilvey, Preston Bowden (Biddeford, Maine), Stewart Emery (Augusta, Maine) and Andrew Merlino (Natick, Mass.) also participated in the 100-Back race. The trio added 14 points to the Monks' tally, as Bowden finished 10th (1:01.28), Emery placed 13th (1:03.16) and Merlino posted a 14th-place effort (1:03.24).
Junior Adam Gaulin (Belfast, Maine) topped his own 100-Breast record, a mark that stood for nearly two years, with a 1:03.06 performance and placed 11th in the event. Other top individual efforts include those posted by sophomore Antonio Delvecchio (Middlebury, Conn.), who placed 10th in the 200-Free (1:52.32), sophomore Chris Cullity (North Reading, Mass.), who finished 14th (11:31.88) in the 1000-Free, and sophomore Evan Wright (Preston, Conn.), who raced to a 18th-place finish in the 50-Fly (26.76).
The quartet of Gilvey, Gaulin, Delvecchio and Bowden swam to a sixth-place finish in the 200-Medley relay (1:44.49) and Cullity, Thomas Smith (New Hartford, Conn.), Gilvey and Delvecchio registered an eighth-place effort in the day's final race, the 800-Free relay.
Through 32 races, Keene State College paces the 11-team field with 688.5 points and Roger Williams University sits in second with 498 points. UMass.-Dartmouth (282), Norwich University (273) and Elms College (239.5) close out the top five competing teams going into Sunday.
The third and final day of the 2013 NEISDA Championship begins on Sunday with a round of preliminary events at 10:00 AM at the Upper Valley Aquatic Center in White River Junction, Vermont. Prelims are slated to begin at 10:00 AM.
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 350-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.
