Pride Wrap Up Championships with Several All-GNAC Honors
WELLESLEY, Mass. – One individual conference title, two extremely close calls, and several other scoring performances highlighted the final day of the 2022 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Swimming and Diving Championships for Regis College, as the competition concluded Sunday evening at the Boston Sports Institute.
Sunday morning at Simmons University, Cashman Murphy (Westwood, Mass.) completed the sweep of the diving events by winning three meter diving for her second conference title in as many days. Her 11-dive score of 334.65 was 11.8 points ahead of USJ's Brielle Bergeron and set a new Regis program record, breaking the previous standard of 300.10 established by Kim Hart in 1987.
During the Sunday evening finals, the first close race involving a Regis swimmer came in the 100 backstroke, as Kyleigh Boatwright (Roseville, Calif.) ended up just 16/100ths of a second behind winner Callie Sullivan of Roger Williams. Boatwright posted a time of 1:02.69 to earn her second All-GNAC award of the weekend with the second place finish.
Julia Burke (Barrington, N.H.) came a little closer to defending her GNAC title in the 50 breaststroke, finishing second to Bella Kuzbek of Roger Williams by 12/100ths of a second. Burke posted a time of 32.31 seconds for All-GNAC honors, with Thalia Bowie (Lexington, Mass.) earning a fourth place finish in the event with a time of 33.53 seconds.
Brendan Pike (Weymouth, Mass.) collected his second All-GNAC honor of the weekend by finishing third in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:18.17. Sam Madriz (Union, N.J.) also picked up points for the men's team by finishing seventh in the 200 butterfly in 2:21.08 and 10th in the 50 butterfly in 26.55 seconds.
Before the 50 breaststroke, Bowie finished fifth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:40.37, just ahead of Burke in sixth place in 2:41.15. Alexa Lancisi (Milford, Mass.) also qualified for two "A" finals Sunday, finishing seventh in the 50 butterfly in 28.41 seconds and eighth in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:04.97.
Olivia Luhnau (Denver, Colo.) finished ninth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 26.76 seconds, and then she led off the 800 freestyle relay, joining Bowie, Cecelia Adelfio (Gloucester, Mass.) and Boatwright to post an overall time of 8:39.57, finishing fifth in the event.
In other scoring performances, Adelfio finished second in the "B" final (12th overall) of the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:07.70, while Megan Miller (Quincy, Mass.) finished third in the "B" final (13th overall) of the 100 backstroke in 1:08.84.
Mallytza Ibarra Davila (Yuma, Ariz.) finished 12th overall in the 50 freestyle after a finals time of 27.72 seconds and 15th overall in the 50 butterfly with an evening time of 30.09 seconds. Shawna MacNeil (Medford, Mass.) picked up a 19th place finish in the 100 backstroke in 1:11.46 and a 20th place finish in the 50 freestyle in 30.62 seconds.
The Pride men's and women's teams finished fifth in their respective team standings. Roger Williams University cruised to the team titles in both men's and women's competitions, with Simmons University finishing second on the women's side and Norwich University picking up the runner-up plaque on the men's side.
Regis College will conclude the 2021-22 swimming and diving season at the NEISDA Championships, held Feb. 24-27 at the URI Tootell Aquatic Center in Kingston, R.I.