UMass Swimming And Diving Teams Sweep Rhode Island Invitational

Jan. 15, 2011

AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass men's and women's swimming and diving teams both captured first place at the Rhode Island Invitational this weekend. The men finished with 587.5 points to beat La Salle, George Washington and URI; while the women tallied 517.5 which was good to beat La Salle, URI and George Washington.

Day one concluded with both the Minutemen and Minutewomen sitting in first place. The men had 209 points followed by La Salle, George Washington and URI; while the women had 166.5 followed closely by La Salle with 160.5, URI and George Washington.

The women started off the day well, with both the A and B teams scoring in the 400-yard medley relay. The A team of Jenn Corriveau, Jessica Starosielec, Sarah Kanellas and Anna Cavanaugh took second with a time of 4:01.44; while the B team of Gillian Bank, Meghan Nowak, Katie English and Tavis Potter took sixth with a time of 4:07.42.

Cavanaugh would go on next to take third in the 500-yard freestyle (5:08.87), followed by Julie Magyar in fourth (5:09.95) and Molly Papish in fifth (5:11.71).

Potter (2:10.88), Kaitlyn McKenna (2:12.82) and Starosielec (2:15.45) placed two, three and four respectively in the 200-yard IM.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay the team of Cavanaugh, Corriveau, Potter and Amina Meho took third (1:40.36) as English, McKenna, Emily Rookwood and Magyar took seventh (1:44.42).

In the women's one-meter dive Molly Elkins took first with a score of 242.75 while Ariel Hallisey took sixth with a score of 145.75.

The Minutemen were able to capture three out of four individual first place finishes on the day.

Joey Sbordon got it started for the men, as he took first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:43.40. Troy Nichols followed closely behind him in third with a time of 4:45.58.

In the 200-yard IM Derek Hursch was able to capture first (1:55.81), while teammates Jordan Guttrich (2:01.06) and Max Butler (2:02.48) finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

In a tight 50-yard freestyle Peter Sacco finished second, .25 seconds off the leader with a time of 21.68. Eric Ziemetz finished fifth (22.20) and newly acquired transfer Colin Mulcahy took eighth (22.59).

The Minutemen 400-yard medley relay teams took second and third with the team of Butler, Michael DiMarco, Chris Inglis and Hursch taking second (3:31.88), while Kyle Jennings, Beau Garufi, Ziemetz, and Timmy O'Neill took third (3:38.49).

The men also took first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with the team of Sacco, Mulcahy, Ziemetz and Hursch finishing .20 seconds ahead of the second place with a time of 1:27.12.

In the men's three-meter dive Jason Cook, Adam Duffield and Alex Merkulov swept the top three spots with scores of 360.50, 268.45 and 268.25, respectively.

Day two began with the Minutewomen taking first in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Jenn Corriveau, Jessica Starosielec, Sarah Kanellas and Amina Meho finished with a time of 1:50.95. The women ended the day the same way with Tavis Potter, Molly Papish, Meho and Anna Cavanaugh taking first in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:37.06.

One of the two individual top finishes for the Minutewomen came from Cavanaugh who finished first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.05). She would also take third in the 100-yard freestyle (54.17).

There were however, many top-5 finishes in day two for the women.

Julie Magyar, Papish and Chelsea Downing finished three, four and five, respectively, in the 400-yard IM. Papish and Magyar would also finish in third and fifth place in the 1000-yard freestyle. Kanellas took second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.18 and Starosielec took second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:07.37.

Kayla Tegeler took second in the 200-yard butterfly (2:11.75) while Kaitlyn McKenna came in behind her in third (2:13.38).

In the women's three-meter dive Molly Elkins was able to capture first place with a score of 240.70.

Day two for the Minutemen began with a win in the 200-yard medley relay for Max Butler, Peter Sacco, Chris Inglis and Colin Mulcahy with a time of 1:36.93. In the final relay of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Sacco, Troy Nichols, Mulcahy and Derek Hursch placed second (3:12.88).

Joey Sbordon continued his success from day one by placing first in the 400-yard IM (4:08.90) while taking third in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:54.92) behind Inglis who finished in a time of 9:37.74, which was good for first.

Hursch picked up the first place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.94), he also tied for second in the 100-yard freestyle (48.34), while Kyle Jennings captured first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:55.75.

In the men's one-meter dive Jason Cook and Alex Merkulov finished one-two with scores of 294.25 and 260.25, respectively. Adam Duffield and Conor Dunn tied for third with scores of 254.80.

The men and women will be back in the pool on Senior Night, Jan. 21, against Boston College. The meet is scheduled to start at 4 pm at Joseph Rogers Pool.

Scoreboard