VMI Swimming Finishes Strong at AE Championship
WORCESTER, Mass. - The VMI men's and women's swimming and diving teams finished the final day of the 2019 America East Championships strong, breaking six records Sunday. The event was hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
The Keydets broke 18 records over the course of the four-day championship meet.
Senior Brady Gannon, swimming in his last America East Championship event, clocked a 45.82 in the 100-yard freestyle preliminaries to break the school record. He then swam a 45.71 in the finals to take fourth place. Ryan Schmidt finished seventh in 46.31 and Nick Palmieri was 10th in 47.42.
Ryan Cooper set the new VMI top mark in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:11.07, finishing 12th, while William Soldow placed 13th in 2:13.88. Stephen Hopta broke his own school top time in the 1,650 free, finishing in 16:04.66 for fourth place. He also set the school record in the 1,000 of 9:36.75 during the race. Thomas Muldowney, Colin Gibbons and Brady Rawers also qualified for the finals.
The men's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Gannon, Palmieri, Hopta and Schmidt broke the school record in the last race of the meet in 3:04.73. Gannon broke the 100-free record for the third time in the same day, leading off the relay with a 45.67.
Anno Kong finished sixth in the men's 200-yard backstroke in 1:53.67, followed by Jacob Smilie in seventh. Zach Emerson set the school freshman record with a 1:51.77 in the event. Andrew Mills (1:56.53) and Gibbons (2:00.10) finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 200-fly finals.
The women's 400-free relay team of Sophie Svoboda, Morgan Davis, Sarah MacDougall and Laura Payne completed the race in 3:44.30. Svoboda broke the VMI record in the 100-free, leading off the relay with a 53.53. Davis placed 16th in the 200-fly in 2:16.93.
The team is back in action from March 1-3 at the ECAC Championships, in Annapolis, Md. The event will conclude the 2018-19 season.
2019 America East Swimming & Diving Championships
Final Team Standings
Women
- UMBC (894.5 points)
- New Hampshire (723)
- Vermont (510)
- Maine (465.5)
- Binghamton (449)
- Stony Brook (185)
- VMI (165)
Men
- UMBC (1113.5 points)
- Binghamton (774)
- Maine (494.5)
- VMI (483)
