Four Meet Records on Day One
Day 1 Results
The first day of the Empire 8 Swimming and Diving championships is in the books and the Ithaca Bombers won four of five events while Stevens Institute of Technology claimed the other.
For the ninth straight time, a Stevens athlete earns the title in the 500 freestyle. Senior Danielle Caruso won the event for the fourth straight year with an NCAA B-cut and E8 meet record time of 4:57.59. She beat out Nazareth senior Camerson Hess (5:09.43) and Ithaca senior Brenna Dowd (5:11.73).
Ithaca senior Grace Ayer won her fourth consecutive title in the 200 Individual Medley. Her time of NCAA B-cut time of 2:03.62 set a new E8 meet record and was almost a full seven second faster than Stevens' Sarah Jurczyk (2:10.20).
In the finals of the 50 freestyle, Ithaca took the top three spots as senior Lake Duffy won the event for the second time, this year with a B-cut time of 23.65. Duffy previously won in 2014. Freshman Paige Landers (24.59) and Jackie Pecze (24.65) finished second and third, respectively.
Ithaca won the 3-meter diving event for the seventh consecutive season. The top mark of 554.90 went to Nickie Griesemer, which set a new E8 meet record. Griesemers win is her third in the event as she was the E8 champion in 2014 and 2015. Teammates Lindsey Suddaby posted a second place score of 516.20 and Katie Helly compiled a third place mark of 515.50.
Ithaca claimed the title in the 200 Medley Relay to cap off the evening in a B-cut and E8 meet record time. Ayer, Sam Reilly, Pecze and Duffy (1:44.00) were 1.85 seconds faster than Stevens quartet of Courtney Jones, Katie Prescott, Jurczyk and Caruso(1:45.85).
Competition continues tomorrow at Ithaca's Athletics & Events Center Aquatics Pavilion with prelims at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.
Team Scores
Ithaca - 287
Stevens - 130
Hartwick - 125
Nazareth - 123
Alfred - 55
Utica - 44
Thursday's Schedule:
200 Freestyle Relay
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
400 Medley Relay