Swimmers Finish Strong In Boston

Boston, Mass.-The University of Bridgeport swim teams wrapped up an excellent weekend of competition at the Boston University Invitational on Sunday night, as the men took fifth place and the women finished in eighth place, as the Purple Knights were the only non-Division I team taking part in the meet.

On Sunday night, the distance group kicked off the finals for the Purple Knights.  Freshman Margo Koets dropped nearly a minute off her time in the heats of 1,000 Free to finish seventeenth in a time of  17:58, a lifetime best. On the men's side in the 1,000, junior Erik Hren finished second in an NCAA qualifying time of 15:38.73 followed closely in third by classmate Brian Kelly, whose 15:42.67 also qualified for NCAA's. Men's captain Klavio Meca rounded out the scoring with an eleventh place finish, also an in NCAA qualifying time.  In one of many closely contested finishes of the night, senior Wilmar Du Plessis won the 200 Back in an NCAA qualifying time of 1:47.19.

In the women's 100 Free senior, captain Nina Stegu finished second in another NCAA qualifying time of 51.45.

In the men's 100 Free, freshman Djordje Spasic was fourteenth in a quality time of 46.79, Nick Semenov  clocked in at 46.40 for seventeenth place, and Andrej Sokolovski , who recorded 46.99, yet another lifetime best in the prelims took spot number 21.

Mariia Rezhylo followed up on her 100 Breaststroke victory Saturday by winning the 200 Breaststroke in a time of 2:17.28; while teammate Amila Beganovic continued her strong improvement in the same event swimming a 2:23.15 for 18th place.

Nicolas Cardenas was thirteenth in the men's 200 Fly with a strong 1:55.76 for, and Jose Javato finished off the weekend's individual events with a 1:56.31 in the same event good for fifteenth place.  

Up next. the Bridgeport swim team will be in action at the ECAC Winterfest Meet on Long Island beginning on November 30th.

Just about six weeks into the season, the Purple Knights have already 19 NCAA qualifying standards amongst seven student-athletes. In addition, the following swimmers are currently ranked in the Top 50 in their events in NCAA Division II.

Mariia Rezhylo
200 Breaststroke (2nd), 100 Breaststroke (2nd)

Nina Stegu
100 Free (2nd), 200 Free (10th), 50 Free (27th)

Amila Beganovic
200 Breaststroke (30th)

Diana Naglic
200 Free (41st)

Erik Hren
200 Free (4th), 500 Free (3rd), 1,000 Free (4th), 1,650 Free (4th)

Brian Kelly
500 Free (13th), 1,000 Free (8th), 1,650 Free (5th) 100 Fly (33rd)

Klavio Meca
500 Free (22nd), 1,000 Free (32nd), 1,650 Free (21st), 200 Free (43rd)

Juan Patino
50 Free (28^th)

Wilmar Du Plessis
100 Back (3rd), 200 Back (4th)

Kosta Mitrovic
100 Breaststroke (22nd), 200 Breaststroke (7th)

Leonard Posa
100 Breaststroke (32nd), 200 Breaststroke (31st)