Purple Knights Off To A Strong Start At 2017 Metropolitan Conference Swimming Championships
Women Sit In Second Place And Men In Fourth After Day One Of Three-Day Competition
Piscataway, N.J.-The University of Bridgeport men's and women's swimming teams began competition at the three-day 2017 Metropolitan Conference Championships on Friday at the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center Natatorium on the campus of Rutgers University, and Purple Knights got off to a fine start. After day one, the Bridgeport women sit in second place out of 15 scoring teams, and the men are in fourth place out of 15 scoring teams.
Highlighting the night for the UB men was the performance of freshman Erik Hren (Maribor, Slovenia) who led a Bridgeport sweep of the top four spots in the 500-yard Freestyle, as he won the event in a school and Metro Championships meet record time of 4:25.10. Senior Ivan Sangines (Barcelona, Spain) took second in a time of 4:27.73 which should also place him in next month's NCAA Division II National Championship meet. Senior Alberto Alemany (Barcelona, Spain) was third in the 500 Free in a time of 4:33.20, and junior Brian Kelly (Mahwah, N.J.) took fourth place in time of 4:34.27.
In the men's 200-yard IM, senior Didac Matsuyama (Barcelona, Spain) took first place in a time of 1:50.75, and sophomore Nick Semenov (Kiev, Ukraine) added valuable team points with a seventh place finish in the 200 IM in a time of 1:55.18.
On the women's side for the Purple Knights on Friday evening, junior Annagrazia Bonsanti (Caracas, Venezuela) won the 500-yard Freestyle in a time of 4:56.00, and graduate student Jera Majeric (Prevalje, Slovenia) was third in the same event at 5:02.16.
Sophomore Oksana Marchuk (Mlyniv, Ukraine) led a 1-2 Bridgeport finish in the women's 200-yard IM winning the event in a time of 2:02.35. Sophomore Clara Mico Gonzalez (Madrid, Spain) took second behind Marchuk in a time of 2:09.47, and junior Victoria Tornelli (Sao Paulo, Brazil) took fifth place with a time of 2:11.66.
The Bridgeport women also captured first place in the 400-yard Medley Relay, as the quartet of Yekaterina Gakhokidze, Victoria Tornelli, Oksana Marchuk and Nina Stegu posted a winning time of 3:49.24.
Stegu also finished second in the women's 50-yard Freestyle in a time of 23.68, and junior Rebeka Repman (Sombor, Serbia) was fourth in the 50 Free turning in a time of 23.93.
Action will continue at 2017 Metropolitan Conference Championships through Sunday evening.