Junior Mohamed
Hussein |
500 Free Medal Winners |
200 IM Medal Winners |
ORONO, Maine – UMBC junior Mohamed
Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College) broke his own school
and conference records by almost two seconds in the 200-yd. IM as
the UMBC swimming and diving teams competed on the second day of
the America East Championships at the Stanley M. Wallace
Pool.
The men continue to lead the standings with 369.6 points while
the women sit in second behind New Hampshire (331 pts.) with 298.5
points.
After earning the top spot and matching his record in the event
during the morning prelims with a time of 1:47.64, Hussein did
himself one better in the evening finals by besting the field by
almost five seconds. The junior was not alone in the
event as classmate Johan
Rohtla (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary Science) took
fourth place and freshmen Leo
Endres (Bamberg, Germany/Kaiser Heinrich) and
senior Mike
McGee (Chalfont, Pa./LaSalle College HS) finished sixth
and seventh.
The Retrievers, however, were back in the win column before the
swimmers even arrived back on campus. During the early
afternoon, sophomore Katie Bean (Mechanicsville,
Va./Atlee) won her first conference championships by claiming the
1-meter diving competition. Sitting in second after the
prelims, Bean posted a score of 267.45 in the finals for the gold
medal. Sophomore Corinna Darelius (Rye, N.Y./Rye),
meanwhile, moved from fourth to second for the silver, and
seniorVictoria Monetta (Lawrenceville, Ga./Central Gwinnett)
finished in seventh.
The winning continued for UMBC in the first swimming event as
senior Amy Fay (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) won the 500
free for the second time in three years. After winning
the event in 2011, Fay missed last year's championships due to an
arm injury, but came back strong as a senior to earn the gold medal
with a pool record time of 4:51.89, besting Daniele
Surkovich's mark.
Classmate Pierre De
Waal (Pretoria, South Africa/Tuks Sport/Cleveland State)
then made it an event sweep for the Black and Gold by winning the
men's 500 competition for the third straight year. After
breaking the pool record in the morning prelims with a time of
4:29.58, De Waal shattered the mark again, coming into the wall in
4:26.71. Senior Alex
Moothart (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) and
sophomore Rob
Breen (Danvers, Mass./St John's Prep) earned the silver
and bronze medal, respectively, while junior Reed
Neuendorf (Blauvelt, N.Y./Tappan Zee) earned a fifth-place
finish.
In the women's 200-yd. IM, seniors Jennifer Kotonias (Burtonsville, Md./Academy of
Holy Cross) and Tara Morrissette (Somersworth, N.H./Saint Thomas
Aquinas) each set season-best times while placing third and
fifth.
In the final individual event of the night, the 50-yd free, the
Retrievers once again brought home top medals. In the
women's event, junior Erika
Ronning (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township), swimming
in lane 6, out-sprinted her competitors to win the event and set a
new pool record (23.51), besting Lindsey Engler's record of
23.59.
For the men, senior Steve
Gallagher (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) earned his second
straight silver medal in the event with a season-best time of
20.88. Junior Evan
Carey (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island) and senior Harol
Marjak (Harjumaa, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary Science) finished just
behind their teammate in fourth and fifth.
The fireworks were not over, however, as both the men and
women's 200 free relay took the top spot and set pool
records. The women went first with Ronning,
freshman Kristie Langford (Port Hope, Ontario/CDCI West),
junior Kali Dean (Ithaca, N.Y./Lansing), and
senior Talor Tadena (Orangevale, Calif./Bella
Vista) rallying for the win with a time of 1:34.96. The
men's race had a similar feel as Gallagher, Carey,
sophomore Lauri
Kaei (Harjumaa, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary Science), and
Hussein, regrouped and overcame Binghamton for the victory with
Hussein touching the wall at the 1:22.09 mark.
The championship meet picks right back up on Saturday morning
with the prelims of the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 free, 100
breaststroke, and 100 backstroke, in addition to the men's 3-meter
diving competition. The night will once again feature
the finals of each of the events, as well as the 400 medley relay
races.
