Nine UB Swimmers Set To Head To Next Week's NCAA Division II National Championship Meet

Bridgeport, Conn. – Nine University of Bridgeport men's and women's swimmers are set to make the trip to Indianapolis, Indiana for the 2015 NCAA Division II National Championship Meet. The meet will take place over four days from March 11 to March 14 at the IU Natatorium at IUPUI. Under the direction of head coach Sean Raffile, the Purple Knights will be well represented with seven men's swimmers and two women's swimmers.  Last year, the Bridgeport men took fifth place at nationals and the UB women finished in eight place at the NCAA's.

After missing the NCAA's in 2013, the UB women return swimmers to the NCAA Division II National Championship Meet for the second straight season.  Sophomore Tatiana Shepel (Moscow, Russia) will compete in the 50 and 100-yard Freestyles.  Shepel earned 2014 All-America honors in both of those events.  Newcomer, freshman Annagrazia Bonsanti (Caracas, Venezuela) will swim the long-distance, 1650-yard Freestyle.  Bonsanti, who was named the Female Rookie of the Year at this season's Metro Conference Championship, joined the Purple Knights at the start of the second semester and has been a standout at every meet so far in 2015.

Leading the UB men's team is senior Ruben Gimenez (Burgos, Spain), the 2014 NCAA Division II National Champion in the 100-yard Freestyle and the 100-yard Breaststroke.  Gimenez returns to defend those two title, plus he will swim three other events, the 50-yard Freestyle, the 200-Medley Relay and the 400-yard Free Relay.  Along with excelling in the pool, Ruben is star in the classroom, as he was selected the 2014 Capital One National At-Large Academic All-America of the Year.

Junior Ivan Capan (Zagreb, Croatia), who earned relay All-America honors last season, returns to the NCAA's to take part in the 100-yard Breaststroke and the 200-Medley Relay.

Sophomore Antonio Nunez (Oviedo, Spain), who earned All-America honors in the event last year, is back competing in the 200-yard Butterfly.

Sophomore Ivan Sangines (Barcelona, Spain) will swim on the 400-Free Relay team for the Purple Knights, as will sophomore Didac Matsuyama (Barcelona, Spain).

Senior Vladislav Paskas (Zrenjanin, Serbia), who earned Honorable Mention All-American honors in the 100-yard Free last year, will compete in the 400-Free Relay and the 200-Medley Relays.

Freshman Brian Kelly (Mahwah, N.J.), the 2015 Metro Conference Championship Male Rookie of the Year, will compete in the 200-Medley Relay to round out the group of seven UB men at this year's NCAA National Championship.

The 2015 NCAA Division II Championship meet begins Wednesday, March 11 and continues through Saturday March 14. For both teams, preliminaries will begin at 10:30 a.m., and finals will take place at 6:00 p.m. each day of the meet

Live video and results are available by checking www.ncaa.com or www.ubknights.com