Engineers sweep Liberty League championships
ITHACA, N.Y. » The Rensselaer women’s swimming & diving team won the Liberty League Championship for the first time in program history. Freshman Kaitlin Joyce was named the conference Rookie of the Year while the RPI staff led by head coach Shannon O’Brien, was named the staff of the year.
RPI edged the host school, Ithaca, by 50 points in a dramatic finish. Joyce recorded two second place finishes in the 50 freestyle (24.17) and 200 free (1:54.62) while taking third in the 100 free (52.80). The freshman swam a leg in all four of RPI’s first place relay teams while breaking the school’s 50 free record. Joining Joyce in Liberty League team honors were the staff of O’ Brien, Maria Coomaraswamy-Falk en stein, Rob MacLeod and Mi- chael Sorrentino.
In addition to Joyce’s third place finish in the 100 free, seniors Jessica Sauve and Danielle Sauve finished in first (52.12) and second (52.64), respectively, to make it a top-three sweep for Rensselaer. Jessica’s first place finish set a new league record.
Junior Amanda Wang continued to make Engineer history by breaking her own 200 backstroke record from 2016 with a second place time of 2:04.48. Also earning a spot on the podium was freshman Emily Mayoras with a sixth place finish of 2:09.24.
The 400 freestyle relay team of Joyce, Sauve, Sauve and senior Michaela Yamashita recorded a first place finish, league record with a time of 3:30.98. The RPI women swept all four relay events over the course of the league meet.
In the 200 breaststroke, senior Erin Kane led Rensselaer with a third place
finish of 2:28.07 while junior Caitlyn Gardiner finished in fourth with a time of 2:28.16.
Rounding out the final day for the Engineers was sophomore Jessica Kugelman who placed fourth in the three meter dive with a score of 470.70.
The diving team will prepare to travel to the NCAA Division III Diving Regional at Middlebury College on Mar. 2- 3 beginning at 5:30pm and 1pm, respectively. The 2018 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships are set to take place Mar. 21-22 in Indianapolis, Ind. at the IU Natatorium at IUPUI.
MEN’S SWIMMING
ITHACA, N.Y. » The Rensselaer men’s swimming & diving team won their second consecutive Liberty League Championship Saturday night.
The Engineers’ repeat as conference champions is the third time in four
years that the red and white have hoisted the hardware. The RPI staff led by head coach Shannon O’Brien was named Staff of the Year. Joining O’Brien are Maria Coomaraswamy-Falkenstein, Rob MacLeod and Michael Sorrentino.
Sophomore Trevor Maxfield led the Engineers on the final day of competition with a first place finish in the 1650 freestyle. Maxfield’s time of 16:15.82 was a NCAA B- cut time and a new school record.
In the 200 breaststroke, Cory Madalena swam a NCAA B- cut time of 2:04.09 during the preliminaries for a new school record. The sophomore went on to win the event in the finals with a time of 2:04.21. Freshman Mark Mulder took fourth in the finals (2:05.83) while sophomore Eric Xu (2:10.82) and junior Charly Blazy (2:11.06) finished in sixth and seventh place, respectively.
Maxfield and Madalena became the first Rensselaer men to hit NCAA Bcut times this season.
The 400 freestyle relay team of Everett McNair,
Spencer Marquardt, Graham Zola and John Alberta placed in first with a new league and school record of 3:05.26. The RPI men swept all four relay events over the course of the league meet.
Meanwhile in the 100 free, Alberta took first with time of 46.04. Following the junior’s performance were Zola (46.69) and Marquardt (47.88) in third and eighth place, respectively.
Rounding out the day were freshman Nicos Prokopiou and junior Noah Pan in the 200 backstroke with a second place time of 1:54.41 and a third place finish of 1:55.25, respectively.
The diving team will prepare to travel to the NCAA Division III Diving Regional at Middlebury College on Mar. 2- 3 beginning at 5:30pm and 1pm, respectively. The 2018 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships are set to take place Mar. 21-22 in Indianapolis, Ind. at the IU Natatorium at IUPUI.
- Courtesy RPI Athletics Department