SMITHFIELD, R.I. – After two nights of the 2018 Northeast Conference Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, the Bryant University women's swimming and diving team finds themselves right where they want to be: at the top of the leaderboard. The Bulldogs have claimed 289 points in the two nights of competition, putting them nine points ahead of Wagner in the race for a conference championship.
Coach Cameron's Comments
"I'm incredibly proud of how this team has swam for the first two nights. We were able to set a couple new school records, including breaking the NEC record in the relay and everybody performed really well and are putting us in a good position for the weekend."
Prelims Results
- The Bulldogs sent a total of 17 athletes to both "A" and "B" finals, with nine going into A finals, including all five divers.
- Two Bryant swimmers finished in the top three of 500 free prelims, with sophomore Alyssa DiFiore (Wethersfield, Conn.) swimming the top qualifying time (4:56.04) and senior Nicole Salzano (Elmwood Park, N.J.) finishing three and a half seconds back at 4:59.58.
- Freshman Elin Svärd (Falun, Dalarna, Sweden) swam the top qualifying time in the 200 individual medley, clocking in at 2:03.07.
- Freshman Alexa Rivera (Boynton Beach, Fla.) and sophomore Alaina Scifo (Ipswich, Great Britain) finished ninth and 10th in the 200 IM prelims.
- Junior captain Jillian Rice (Trumbull, Conn.) swam a time of 23.35 in the 50 free, slotting her in third in the prelims.
- Juniors Stephanie Jennings (Elmont, N.Y.), Ann Burdick (Glenmont, N.Y.) and Carissa Stemen (Naples, Fla.) finished 2-3-4 in the 1-meter dive prelims.
- Freshmen Elizabeth Cahill (Ashland, Mass.) and Gabrielle Ritzer (Sutton, Mass.) finished sixth and seventh, also qualifying for the A finals.
Finals Results
- DiFiore started off the night session the best way possible, winning gold in the 500 free (4:56.04) by over a second.
- Watson finished 10th in the B final with a time of 5:03.25.
- Svärd won her first career individual medal and second of the meet, finishing third in the 200 individual medley (2:02.92).
- Rivera finished first in the B final and ninth overall with a finals time of 2:04.00.
- Rice claimed her third medal of the meet, winning bronze in the 50 free (23.27), seven-hundredths off the winning pace.
- The Bulldogs finished 2-3-4-5-7 in the 1-meter, with Jennings and Ritzer claiming the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
- Burdick (fourth), Stemen (fifth) and Cahill (seventh) also claimed points for the Bulldogs.
- Rivera, Svärd, and Rice joined sophomore Kayleigh Canavan (Cumberland, R.I.) and won the 200 free relay with a time of 1:33.10.
Stats and Notes
- Rice leads all Bulldogs with four medals after winning two golds last night.
- Bryant diving qualified at least four divers into the 1-meter A final for the third consecutive year.
- This is the first time a team has qualified five divers in the 1-meter A final since the NEC went to an 8-diver final in 2014.
- Svärd broke the 200 IM school record in the prelims, then re-broke it in the finals.
- The Bulldogs 200 free relay team broke the conference record of 1:33.77.
Up Next
The Bulldogs look to expand on their nine-point advantage Friday, with the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast and 100 back on tap starting with prelims at 10:00 a.m. and finals at 6:00 p.m. on Long Island.
