WORCESTER, Mass. – On day two of the America East Championships, sophomore Ilia Rattsev set a new school record as the UMBC swimming and diving teams picked up 10 individual medals and placed in both relay races. The men strengthened their lead in first place with 362 points, while the women moved into second place 269, behind New Hampshire.
Rattsev earned gold in the 50 free with a time of 20.00, just .05 seconds off of Gregor Spoerlein's time set back in 2016. The sophomore also earned an NCAA B cut in the process.
In the women's 50 free, sophomore Haylee Committe finished fourth, while classmate Emily Vance finished eighth and junior Maddy Popalis took ninth.
On the boards, sophomore Abby Biddulph earned a fourth place finish in the 3 meter dive with a score of 220.50, while junior Nadja Bzhilyankaya earned eighth with a score of 171.55.
In the women's 500 free, junior Hania Moro finished first with a time of 4:51.89. Junior Britt Driscoll finished fifth and senior Carly Waters finished in seventh.
The podium was filled with Retrievers in the men's 500 free, after Alexander Gliese, Haythem Abdelkhalek, and Kai Wisner went one-two-three. Gliese earned gold in a time of 4:27.81, with Abdelkhalek finishing .02 seconds behind him for silver. Wisner touched in for bronze with a time of 4:32.57. Freshman Jonah Pennington and sophomore Connor Robison finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Juniors Laura Massicotte and Aleasha Knight went two-three in the women's 200 IM. Massicotte earned silver in a time of 2:03.74 and Knight took home bronze after touching in with a time of 2:05.00.
The men's 200 IM saw the Retrievers again earn the top three spots as Nikola Trajkovic, Connor Ganley, and Luis Galvan finished in medal position. Trajkovic earned gold with a time of 1:49.30, while Ganley brought home silver with a time of 1:50.14. Galvan earned bronze after touching in with a time of 1:50.52. Freshman Jack Carlisle came in sixth.
In the women's 200 free relay, the team of Committee, Popalis, Emily Vance, and Massicotte earned bronze with a time of 1:34.37.
Rattsev, Jared Vance, Kyle Paxton, and Ganley took home gold in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:21.65.
Day three of the championships will begin with prelims at 10 a.m. and finals at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow from WPI.
Women's Rankings Through Day Two
1. New Hampshire – 342
2. UMBC – 269
3. Vermont – 267
4. Binghamton – 190
5. Maine – 159
6. VMI – 78
Men's Ranking Through Day Two
1. UMBC – 362
2. Binghamton – 286
3. Maine – 197
4. VMI – 116
