Purple Knights Continue To Excel At 2017 NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving National Championship Meet
As A Team, Purple Knights Sit In 11th For The Women And 20th For Men Heading Into the Final Day Of Action On Saturday
Birmingham, Ala.-The University of Bridgeport men's and women's swimming teams added four All-American performances and three Honorable Mention All-American swims on Friday night in day three of the 2017 NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving National Championships taking place at the Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama as part of the 2017 NCAA Division II Winter Sports Festival.
For the Bridgeport women, first-year competitor Oksana Marchuk (Mlyniv, Ukraine) made it three straight days of All-American finishes, as for the second consecutive day, she finished second in an event at nationals. On Friday, Oksana took second place on the 200 Butterfly in a time of 1:59.17, after taking second in yesterday's 200 Freestyle and fourth in the 200 IM on Wednesday.
Junior Annagrazia Bonsanti (Caracas, Venezuela), after earning All-American honors in the 1000 Freestyle on Wednesday, turned in her second individual All-American swim by finishing sixth in the 500 Free in a time of 4:53.25.
Both Marchuk and Bonsanti added to their All-American totals in the final event of the night, as they teamed with Nina Stegu and Rebeka Repman in the 800 Freestyle Relay to finish in fourth place in a time of 7:24.59.
On the men's side, freshman Erik Hren (Maribor, Slovenia) continued his stellar Nationals debut turning in his second long-distance, All-American swim, as he took fourth place in the 500 Freestyle in a time of 4:23.20, after finishing fifth in Wednesday's 1000 Free.
The men's 500 Free was an excellent event for the Purple Knights on Friday, as junior Brian Kelly (Mahwah, N.J.) grabbed tenth place (4:27.62) and senior Ivan Sangines (Barcelona, Spain) finished in thirteenth place (4:29.06) to receive Honorable Mention All-American accolades.
Hren and Sangines teamed with Wilmar Du Plessis and Didac Matsuyama in the 800 Freestyle Relay to finish in tenth place in a time of 6:36.52 to earn Honorable Mention All-America honors.
As a team, the Bridgeport women sit in eleventh place out of 38 scoring teams after Day Three of the 2017 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving National Championship Meet with 110 points, and the UB men are in 20th place out of 32 scoring teams with 65 points.
Action wraps up tomorrow night at the 2017 NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving National Championships.