FAIRFAX, Va. ? Aided by another conference record-setting effort by a relay team, UNC Wilmington's men's team separated itself from the rest of the field at the Colonial Athletic Association Swimming and Diving championships at the McKay Natatorium on Thursday.
“Tomorrow is going to be a real test for our men. Old Dominion and William & Mary are strong teams and will be ready for tomorrow's action,” said Head Coach Dave Allen. “The women have done a tremendous job and moved up in the standings. I think they'll continue their move up the standings tomorrow.”
The Seahawks have built a 29-point lead in the men's championship, while the women improved two spots to fifth-place and need just four points to overtake James Madison for fourth.
The 200 Freestyle Relay team of junior Robert Anderson, freshman Ben Clark and sophomore Seth Liston and Bobby Guntoro broke the conference championship mark with a time of 1:20.48. The previous record was 1:20:80, set by UNCW during the 2002 championships.
“This has been a great meet, all the teams here are really swimming well and posting great times,” said Allen. “Our kids have done an outstanding job after gaining some momentum last night. They're focused and anxious to get to their swims, but have maintained their approach in swimming smart.”
UNCW's women's 200 Free Relay team of freshmen Anna Munger, Mattie Riley, sophomore Sabina Sinska and junior Caitlin Kirsteier finished third and set a school-record of its own with a time of 1:32.64.
In the individual events it was more of the same for the Seahawks as senior Danielle Mortensen, Kirsteier and Laura Chinni set and broke their own school records on the same day.
Mortensen set a school-record in the 500 Free (4:53.83) during the preliminaries in session two and topped that mark with a time of 4:51.73 in the finals to finish fifth.
Kirsteier, meanwhile, also set a new school-standard in the 50 Free in the early session and topped that mark after clocking in at an even 23 seconds to take third in the finals.
Rounding out the record-breakers was Chinni, who qualified for the finals with a record-time of 2:04.81 and then swan 2:03.71 in the finals to give UNCW a third-place finish.
UNCW sophomore Luke Murphy posted the Seahawks' highest finish of the day in the individual events, placing second in the 500 Free in a time of 4:27.36.
Through three sessions, the Seahawks have taken advantage of one of the fastest pools in the conference and broken a total of nine school records and a pair of conference championship marks.
The meet continues on Friday with the preliminaries at 9 a.m. and the finals at 5 p.m.
