Fairfax, Va. – The UMBC swimming squads had their final tune-up before the 2023-24 America East Championships as they took on an inspired host George Mason squad.

Sophomore Bruna de Padua and senior Daniel Nicusan won two events apiece to lead the way for the Retrievers.

On the men's side, the Patriots won, 188-110, while capturing the women's meet, 202-98.   

"Mason is heck of a team and they gave us a good run today," said Head Swimming Coach Matt Donovan. "I'm happy with how we performed today.  A lot of the elements we've been working on in practice showed up in the pool this meet.

"It's time to go into championship meet prep mode for America East.  We are really excited for the next three weeks."

In the diving well, freshman Ember Stennett and sophomore Anders Logas won the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions respectively as the divers outscored their counterparts, 43-31. The divers will compete at the Navy Invitational next weekend.

"After several weeks of winter training, it was great to get back to competition," said Head Diving Coach Jeff Fisher. "We saw some new dives performed and overcame a few significant challenges. I am looking forward to finishing the season strong and going into the conference
championships stronger than ever."

Nicusan triumphed in the 100 yard backstroke, then came back to prevail comfortably in the 200 yard breaststroke.

Logas amassed a score of 247.13, edging teammate freshman Andy Vines (232.73) on the 3-meter board. On the 1-meter board, Vines missed out on gold by less than a point, totaling 240.00 points, while Logas placed third with a score of 229.95.

Senior Bode Neale also earned gold for UMBC, taking the 100 yard (46.36) freestyle. After building a lead in the first 50 yards, he held off Mason's Zane Roberts to win by 0.17 seconds. Neale place second in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 21.01.

Senior Ethan Riser earned silvers in both butterfly events, while juniors Christian Coleman and JJ Chapman finished in second place in the 100 yard breaststroke and 200 individual medley respectively.    

The entire team travels to VMI for the 2023-24 America East Conference Swimming and Diving Championships from Feb. 14-17. Tickets are available at https://www.ticketreturn.com/prod2new/team.asp?SponsorID=17275.