KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Competing at the team's first Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) Championships, the UMBC men's swimming and diving team broke 12 of 20 school records and finished second overall as the meet concluded on Saturday evening at the University of Tennessee's Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.
The Retrievers finished the meet with 844 points, trailing only conference champion University of the Incarnate Word who scored 886 points. Davidson finished in third with 632 points with Gardner-Webb (473 pts.) in fourth and NJIT (211 pts.) in fifth. VMI (172 pts.) and Howard (90 pts.) rounded out the standings in sixth and seventh, respectively.
UMBC head coach Chad Cradock was named the CCSA Male Swimming Coach of the Year while Retriever diving coach Petar Trifonov earned Male Diving Coach of the Year honors. Trifonov earned his award after his divers, juniors Ryan Green (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) and Carson Wong (Hong Kong/Kowloon Technical School) swept the two diving competitions with Green taking home Most Outstanding Diver of the Meet honors. Green won the 3-meter event and finished second in the 1-meter board.
Senior Mohamed Hussein (Cairo, Egypt/Victory College), who was named the America East and ECAC Most Outstanding Swimmer last year, added the CCSA Most Oustanding Swimmer of the Meet to his accolades following a record-breaking meet. In total, Hussein won two individual gold medals, one individual silver medal, two relay golds, and two relay silvers. He also achieved NCAA "B" cuts in each of his three individual events, plus the 100-yd. butterfly. In addition, he broke three individual school records while aiding five relay teams to new UMBC marks.
On Saturday, Hussein added a silver medal in the 200 back to his haul, touching in with a school-record time of 1:44.35, which is also good for an NCAA "B" cut. Classmate Johan Rohtla (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary Science) also met the "B" standard, winning a bronze medal with a time of 1:45.66. Freshman Austin Gabel (Clarksville, Md./River Hill) also advanced to the finals, placing seventh to claim the eighth spot in the UMBC record book.
Competing in a time trial, Hussein set another school record with an NCAA "B" cut time of 48.07 in the 100-yd. butterfly.
In the first event of the night, junior Rob Breen (Danvers, Mass./St. John's Prep) earned a silver medal in the 1,650 free with a personal-best time of 15:37.29. Freshman Andrew McKissick (Ellicott City, Md./Mount St. Joseph's) and senior Reed Neuendorf (Blauvelt, N.Y./Tappan Zee) placed seventh and eighth, respectively, with times of 15:56.44 and 15:56.96.
Freshman Gregor Sporlein (Bamberg, Germany/Clavius-Gymnasium) won his first career conference gold medal by taking the top spot in the 100 free. His time of 44.44 ranks behind only Hussein's top mark of 43.81, set during the 400 free relay. The freshman broke the UMBC record for the 50 free (20.29) on Thursday night. Junior Lauri Kaei (Harjumaa, Estonia/Tallinn Secondary Science) took the bronze medal in the 100 free with a personal-best time of 45.24 while junior Trevor Doll (Crownsville, Md./Old Mill) placed eighth (45.82).
In the 200-yd. breaststroke, sophomore Leo Endres (Bamberg, Germany/Kaiser Heinrich Gymnasium) clipped his school-record time while winning a bronze medal. Endres touched in at 2:00.15 in the finals while sophomores Luca Santinelli (Via Alfieri, Italy/Liceo Scientifico) and Daniel Cano (Madrid, Spain/IES Ortega y Gasset) finished fifth and seventh.
Freshman Andrew Schrantz (New Holland, Pa./Garden Spot) represented UMBC in the finals of the 200 fly and took fourth-place with a personal-best time of 1:50.61.
