Bryant in sixth after day two of ECACs
FOUR MORE RECORDS FALL ON DAY TWO, BULLDOGS IN SIXTH AT ECACs
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Bryant University men's swimming team broke four school records and grabbed 99 points to move into sixth place after day two of the ECAC Swimming and Diving Championships.
The Bulldogs have 179.5 points through two days of competition, trailing the U.S. Naval Academy, Bucknell, Columbia, the U.S. Military Academy and Rider. Navy leads the pack with 475.5 points.
Already the school's record holder in the event, freshman Graham Beck (Danvers, Mass.) continued his stellar rookie campaign with a seventh-place finish in the 100 breast. Beck broke his record twice on the same day, qualifying for the "A" final with a time of 57.91 in the preliminaries and then besting that with a time of 57.62 in the finals. Both times were nearly two seconds faster than his previous best. He became the first Bulldog swimmer to ever swim a sub-minute 100 breast earlier this season.
Another current record holder, sophomore Cameron Hessler (Southbury, Conn.) topped his program mark in the 100 back. Like Beck, Hessler broke his own record in the preliminaries with a time of 52.38 and then beat that for good measure with a time of 52.37. His new program mark earned him an 11th-place finish in the event.
Bryant's relay teams accounted for the other two program records, making the Bulldogs a perfect 4-for-4 in breaking school relay records. The 200 medley relay team of Hessler, Beck, Tim McGrath (Hyannis, Mass.) and Nicholas Karadimas (New Milford, Conn.) finished fifth with a time of 1:33.65, establishing a new program best. Karadimas and Beck were also a part of the school record-setting 800 free relay team, teaming with Alex Kosenski (Lavallette, N.J.) and Steve Sinclair (Middleton, Mass.) to finish sixth and set the new program mark at 6:52.31, over two seconds faster than the previous mark.
Outside of his contribution to the relay, Kosenski also earned a fifth-place finish in the 200 free. He earned the top seed in the "A" final but he was unable to grab the gold, touching the wall with a time of 1:39.32. Karadimas joined Kosenski in the top 10 of the 200 free, finishing ninth with a time of 1:40.93. Freshman Keagan Boshoff (Munich, Germany) also advanced to the finals for the Black and Gold, finishing 16th in the 100 breast with a time of 59.34, breaking the minute mark for the first time in his career. Sinclair was Bryant's last representative in the finals, earning a 14th-place finish in the 100 back.
The third and final day of the ECAC Swimming and Diving Championships gets underway at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday.