Bulldogs ease past St. Francis (NY), NJIT
BROOKYLN HEIGHTS, N.Y. – Powered by 16 first-place finishes, the Bryant University men's swimming and the women's swimming and diving teams cruised to victories on Saturday at St. Francis College. The men defeated the Terriers and New Jersey Institute of Technology, while the women defeated NEC-foe St. Francis.
Senior Alex Kosenski (Lavallette, N.J.), junior Casey Ostrander (Yarmouthport, Mass.)and sophomore Kaitlin Buckley (Duxbury, Mass.) each won two events on the afternoon, and the Bulldogs also earned top spots in women's 200 medley relay and both the men's and women's 200 free relay. The Black and Gold men improve to 6-2 with the sweep, while the women improve to 4-7 in dual meets.
Kosenski won for the ninth and 10th times this season, claiming the 50 and 100 free with times of 21.81 and 47.81, respectively. Tim McGrath (Hyannis, Mass.) (200 IM), Cameron Hessler (Southbury, Conn.) (100 back) and Keagan Boshoff (Munich, Germany) (100 breast) also earned first-place finishes for the men. Nathan Hirshbein (Weston, Fla.) had one of his best meets of the season, finishing third in the 50 free and second in the 100 fly. Bryant also received second-place finishes from Graham Beck (Danvers, Mass.) (500 free, 100 breast), Steve Sinclair (Middleton, Mass.) (100 free) and Nicholas Karadimas (New Milford, Conn.) (1000 free).
In addition to win her 19th and 20th events of the season, Ostrander helped the 200 free relay team to a victory. The Yarmouthport, Mass., native won the 100 back and the 200 IM. The big story was Buckley however, as the sophomore won her first two events of the season. She won the 100 free with a season-best time of 55.43 and the 500 free with a time of 5:27.66.
The Bulldogs showed their dominance by sweeping the 1000 free, 200 IM, 500 free, 100 breast and the 200 free relay. Caitlin Hanahoe (Prairie, Minn.), Mara Valenzuela (Bridgewater, N.J.) and Samantha Hilton (Fairfield, Conn.) swept the 1000; Ostrander,Abby Whittaker (Salisbury, Mass.) and Hanahoe cleaned up in the 200 IM; Buckley, Corrin Wolf (Hackettstown, N.J.) and Katie Unger (Orangeburg, N.Y.) swept the 500 and Ashley Atherton (Bridgewater, N.J.), Jennifer Leckie (Corbeil, Ont.) and Hilton earned the top three spots in the 100 breast.
Whittaker also added a first-place finish in the 100 fly with a time of 1:02.34, winning an event for the first time this year. Atherton's victory in the 100 breast was her first-career victory and her time of 1:12.16 was just six tenths of a second off her season-best time set against Wagner in the first weekend of the season. Hanahoe's victory in the 100 was just her second victory of the season and Molly Smith (Belmont, Mass.) added a first-place finish in the 200 IM.
The team of Valenzuela, Brianne Dwyer (Hicksville, N.Y.), Whittaker and Amy D'Olympia (Mattapoisett, Mass.) led the Bulldogs to a victory in the 200 medley relay and Dwyer and D'Olympia joined Ostrander and Taylor DeBever (Denver, Colo.) in winning the 200 free relay.
Bryant returns to the friendly confines of the Chace Athletic Center this Friday, January 14, against the University of Massachusetts. The meet is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m.