BACK-TO-BACK; Women's Swim and Dive top Dogs again
Posted: Feb 17, 2019

BACK-TO-BACK; Women's Swim and Dive top Dogs again

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – Headlined by Northeast Conference Swimmer of the Meet Jillian Rice (Trumbull, Conn.), the Bryant University swimming and diving team won three gold medals to seal their second-straight NEC Swimming and Diving Championship on Saturday at the Nassau County Aquatic Center.

The Bulldogs won their second title in program history in dominating fashion. Bryant finished over 250 points ahead of the next closest team.

Coach Cameron's Comments

"What can I say, it's an AMAZING DAY TO BE A BULLDOG! Both the men and women had incredible weekends. The numbers speak for themselves. I'm so proud of every member of our program. I'm excited for Jillian and Micah – who are both very deserving of the honor of swimmer of the meet. I'm proud of the women for repeating and the men for the highest finish ever! Hard work always pays off! Go Bulldogs!"

Saturday Highlights

  • Alyssa DiFiore (Wethersfield, Conn.) opened the night by earning her third individual medal with a third-place finish in the 1650 free.
  • Alaina Scifo (Ipswich, Great Britain) then won her second individual gold medal in historic fashion. She finished with a time of 1:58.81, breaking the previous school record held by Casey Ostrander since 2012. In addition, Scifo joined Ostrander as the only two females to break the 2:00 mark in the program history.
  • Rice then cemented her fate as the NEC Swimmer of the Meet by winning Bryant's 11th gold medal of the meet. She won the 100 free in a time of 50.21.
  • Heather Wong (Ramsey, N.J.) completed her dominance of the breast events with a victory in the 200 breast. She broke her own school record in the process, finishing with a time of 2:17.87.
  • Bryant then closed out the meet in historic fashion, winning the 400 free relay with a new meet record time of 3:23.72. Alexa Rivera (Boynton Beach, Fla.), Scifo, Alyvia Beaudion (Cypress, Texas) and Rice also broke the Bryant record that had stood since 2013 by nearly two seconds.

Notes and Notables

  • Bryant won a program record 13 gold medals this week.
  • Rice becomes the first Bulldog since Casey Ostrander to win NEC Swimmer of the Meet honors. She is also just the second Bulldog ever to win the honor. Ostrander is the only swimmer in NEC history to win the honor four-straight years.
  • Rice finished the meet by winning three individual gold medals and four relay gold medals.
  • Scifo also won seven medals on the week, including two individual gold medals. She was also a part of three gold medal relay teams.
  • Wong finished the meet with two gold medals.
  • DiFiore won three individual medals and also earned a gold in the 800 free relay.