SWIMMING OPENS ECAC CHAMPIONSHIPS FRIDAY

February 26, 2010

SWIMMING OPENS ECAC CHAMPIONSHIPS

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Bryant University men's and women's swimming teams are currently competing at the ECAC Championships at the University of Pittsburgh.  The Bulldogs opened competition Friday with two strong performances in the relays including a record-setting performance in the 400 medley relay.  The women are currently 11th and men 16th. 

In the women's 200 free relay, the Bulldogs qualified for the finals with a solid fifth-place finish in a time of one minute, 38.27 seconds, but in the finals later Friday night were disqualified and did not earn a point. 

The Bulldogs would make up for it later as the women's 400 medley relay squad of Casey Ostrander (Yarmouthport, Mass.), Brianne Dwyer (Hicksville, NY), Abby Whittaker (Salisbury, Mass.) and Jess Looney (Goffstown, N.H.) finished seventh in the prelims to also qualify for the evening finals session with a time of 4:01.85.

In the finals, the Bulldogs finished seventh in a school-record time of 3:58.83 and earning a solid 24 team points.  The previous school mark was 3:59.63 set at the Northeast Conference Championships two weeks ago.

The men's 400 medley swam an excellent race in the prelims as well as the Bulldogs placed 12th overall as the team of Steve Sinclair (Middleton, Mass.), Sean Martell (Nashua, N.H.), Matt Derwin (Cheshire, Conn.), and Alex Kosenski (Lavalette, N.J.) touched at 3:37.65.

In the finals Friday evening, the Bulldogs nearly set a school record as the team finished 12th in the B finals in 3:34.15, just shy of the school mark of 3:34.14, but did earn the team 10 points and 16th place overall.

Kosenski and teammate Kevin McDonald (North Haven, Conn.) both swam season-best marks in the prelims of the 50 free.  Kosenski finished in a time of 21.54 seconds to place 18th while McDonald was not far behind in 25th in 21.76 seconds.

Individually, Ostrander had the best performance during the first session Friday as the Bulldog freshman placed fourth in the prelims in a time of 23.98, just shy of her school record mark set at the NEC Championships two weeks ago. Dwyer was 32nd (25.51) and Amy D'Olympia (Mattapoisett, Mass.) was 38th (25.66). In the finals, Ostrander placed sixth overall in 24.11 to earn 13 points and ahead of Harvard's Camille Hendrix and Ali Lighthouse.  Pitt claimed the top two spots with Kristen McMullan finishing first in 23.33. 

The ECAC Championships will continue throughout the weekend.

Live up-to-date results are available at:
http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/livestats/c-swim/index.htm