Junior Reed Neuendorf

FAIRFAX, Va. – The UMBC swimming and diving teams completed the first half of their 2012-13 schedules with the third and final day of the Patriot Invitational, Saturday at George Mason.  The men's team finished the invitational in third place with 681.5 points while the women placed fifth overall with 430 points.  

UNC-Wilmington won the men's competition with 844.5 points and Ohio University won the women's invitational with 785.5 points.

The Retrievers picked up their only win of the day through senior Pierre De Waal (Pretoria, South Africa/Tuks Sport/Cleveland State) who took top honors in the 200-yd. butterfly.  De Waal, who set the meet record in the event last year, won this year's competition by over three seconds with a time of 1:48.29.

UMBC earned four other medals on the invitational's final day, two of which came in the final event, the 400 free relay.  Both the women's and men's teams won bronze medals in their respective races.

Senior Mohamed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College), the anchor for the 400 free relay, also won an individual bronze, his fourth individual medal of the competition, in the 200 back.  Hussein placed third with a time of 1:50.19 while junior Rohtla (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary Science) picked up points with a sixth place finish (1:52.42).

For the women, senior Jennifer Kotonias (Burtonsville, Md./Academy of Holy Cross) won the Retrievers' only medal of the day, a silver, with a second place finish in the 200 fly.  Kotonias finished less than half a second behind Richmond's Melissa Ross with a time of 2:05.57.  Seniors Tara Morrissette (Somersworth, N.H./Saint Thomas Aquinas) and Anna Plunkett (Orchard Park, N.Y./Nardin Academy) earned points for the Retrievers by placing 12th and 14th, respectively.

The Retrievers also won points in the 1,650 freestyle with four athletes earning top-ten finishes.  In the women's race, senior Amy Fay (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) placed fourth in a time of 17;25.29. For the men, junior Reed Neuendorf (Blauvelt, N.Y./Tappan Zee) and sophomore Rob Breen (Danvers, Mass./St. John's Prep) placed fourth and fifth.  Senior Alex Moothart (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) finished in tenth with a time of 16:32.22.

In the 200 breaststroke, senior Claire Barron (Lowestoft, England/Benjamin Britten/New Orleans) finished ninth (2:24.93) for the women and freshman Leo Endres (Bamberg, Germany/Kaiser Heinrich Gymansium) placed seventh for the men (2:09.79).

In addition to anchoring the 400 free relay to a bronze medal, junior Talor Tadena (Orangevale, Calif./Bella Vista) finished in sixth place in the 100 free (52.28).

UMBC now has the rest of the 2012 calendar year off from competition before returning the pool on Saturday, Jan. 12 to take on Old Dominion at the UMBC Aquatic Complex.