Bryant finishes 2017 calendar year with third-place finish at Gompei Invite

WORCESTER, MASS. – In their final event of the 2017 calendar year, the Bryant University men's and women's swimming and diving teams combined for a third-place finish at the fifth annual Gompei Invitational, held at WPI over the weekend.

Coach Cameron's Comment

"I could not be more proud or excited about how we swam the weekend. We had so many amazing swims, especially considering that it's December. We showed how tough we are with our swims in the final session of the meet. It was a long weekend but a great weekend to be a Bulldog!"

Key Moment

• The Bulldog women had a fantastic Saturday, winning eight of their nine events to power Bryant to a great day and set up the successful weekend.

Friday Highlights

• Elin Svard (Falun, Dalarna, Sweden) started the meet very well, winning both the 200 IM (2:05.99) and 100 fly (56.10) while helping her team to a 200 medley relay (1:45.37) victory as well.
• The Bulldogs women won two relays on the night, pairing the medley relay win with an 800 free relay (7:40.31).
• Jillian Rice (Trumbull, Conn.) was on both relay teams and also won the 50 free (23.76).
• Bryant's divers performed very well on the night, with both the men and women going 1-2 in their events.
• Stephanie Jennings (Elmont, N.Y.) won the 3-meter event with a 378.15 score and Gabrielle Ritzer (362.50) came in second.
• On the men's side, Trevor Hazlewood (Corpus Christi, Texas) finished in first with a 435.50 score. Zach Vogel (South Easton, Mass.) and Kevin Sullivan (East Lyme, Conn.) came in second and third.

Saturday Highlights

• The women started Saturday the same way they started Friday, winning the opening relay. Rice joined Alexa Rivera (Boynton Beach, Fla.), Kayleigh Canavan (Cumberland, R.I.) and Lindsey Choate (Upper St. Clair, Pa.) to win the 200 free relay (1:36.49).
• Svard added another individual victory in the 400 IM (4:31.14) and was a part of the 400 medley relay team that won in 3:52.86.
• Alaina Scifo (Ipswich, Great Britain) had a great Day 2, winning the 100 back (56.21) and 400 medley relay (3:52.86). The sophomore also came in second in the 200 free (1:53.23).
• Choate and Heather Wong (Ramsey, N.J.) added individual victories on Day 2, with Choate taking the 50 back (27.32) and Wong winning the 100 breast (1:06.98).
• The men's relay teams added two Top 7 finishes, with a fourth-place finish in the 200 free relay (1:25.47) and a seventh-place finish in the 400 medley relay (3:32.29).
• Freshman Colby Dixon (Summit, N.J.) added a seventh-place finish in the 50 back (25.35).
• Bulldog divers had another strong showing on Saturday, going 1-2-3 in the Women's 1-meter and 1-2 in the Men's 3-meter.

Sunday Highlights

• Rice compiled two more wins on the final day, taking home victories in the 100 free (51.62) and 400 free relay (3:30.58).
• Scifo added two wins to her weekend resume, finishing first in the 200 back (2:00.84) and 400 free relay (3:30.58).
• Ben Schulte (Tumon, Guam) did not miss a beat on Sunday, winning the 100 IM (51.85) and coming in second in the 50 breast (25.89) and 100 free (46.41).
• Matthew Mays (St. Croix, Virgin Islands) finished right behind Schulte in the 100 IM (52.08) while taking first in the 200 fly (1:52.23).
• The Bryant divers finished 1-2 in the Mixed 25 Yard Synchro Diving Relay, with Jennings teaming up with Gabrielle Ritzer (Sutton, Mass.) for first place, while Hazlewood and Sullivan came in second.

Stats and Notables

• Alcala set a season-best in the 200 fly by 8.08 seconds.
• Difiore recorded multiple individual Top 3 finishes for the first time this season, swimming four season-best times in the process.
• 12 different male swimmers swam three or more season-best times.
• There were 21 swims over the course of the three days that are now team season bests.

Up Next

The next Bulldogs' meet will be in 2018 when they host the University of Massachusetts at Noon at the Chace Athletic Center Pool.