Swimming

A Big Howard Relay DQ Leaves Wagner Men in the Lead After Day 4 of NEC Championships

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By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

2024 NORTHEAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 7-time defending champions from Central Connecticut State extended their lead on Friday at the Northeast Conference Championships, while Wagner College edged 12.5 points ahead of Howard in the men’s meet heading into the final day of competition.

Men’s Day 4 (Friday) Recap

Team Standings

  1. Wagner College – 633
  2. Howard University – 620.5
  3. LIU – 486.5
  4. Le Moyne College – 305

The finals session began on Friday with Icelandic senior Benny Karlsson from Long Island University successfully defending his title in 1:50.06.

While he was the 2023 champion in the event, the win still felt like a bit of an upset – he was just 1:54 in prelims, and his win wound up taking 1.25 seconds off his best time.

That win for Karlsson was big for the Howard men in the team battle. Aside from him, Wagner took the next three spots in the 200 fly, all in times faster than last year’s winning mark. Nikko Carrillo was 2nd in 1:50.12, Manuel Villapando was 3rd in 1:50.21, and Russell Gavino was 4th in 1:50.68.

Most of the rest of the night were head-to-head showdowns between Wagner swimmers and Howard swimmers, with Wagner getting the best of those matchups in the two other individual events of the night.

In the 100 back, Jasu Ovaskainen of Wagner swam 48.27 to beat out Tristan Stevens of Howard (48.93). Karlsson, swimming his second-consecutive race, was 3rd in 48.93. Ovaskainen, a freshman, was a second better than his mid-season time for the win.

Then, in the 100 breast, it was Wagner freshman Adrian Andres who won in 54.34, beating out the defending champion Darin Johnson of Harvard, who finished 2nd in 54.71. Another event that elevated from last year, the top three this season were all better than Johnson’s winning time of 55.32 from last season.

The two teams traded depths throughout the evening – Wagner had a 57-40 point edge in the 100 back, while Howard had a 50-38 point edge in the 100 breast – but those 1 v 2 matchups are worth 6 point swings each head-to-head, so were crucial for Wagner.

But the big turning point of the day came in the closing 400 medley relay.

Wagner earned a huge victory in 3:13.06, shattering Howard’s Meet Record of 3:16.55 from last season, and while Howard also touched ahead of the Meet Record, they were disqualified. That meant the loss of 34 points, and an opportunity for Wagner to pull ahead to end the session.

Wagner’s winning relay included Kaan Nalcaci (48.52), Adrian Andres (53.75), Jasu Ovaskainen (46.12), and Enrico Mancardo (44.67).

That puts Wagner into the lead heading into the final day of competition. That last day has historically been a good one for the Howard men, but regardless of the outcome, for Wagner, which placed last in 2023, this year marks a dramatic turnaround.

Women’s Recap

Shannon Welcome didn’t swim the 200 fly at last year’s NEC Championship meet. This year she led a 1-2-3 finish for CCSU.

A 1-2-3 sweep of the 200 fly to open the session pushed the women of Central Connecticut State closer to an 8th consecutive title on Friday.

Team Standings

  1. CCSU – 1,122.5
  2. Howard – 883
  3. Wagner – 810.5
  4. Sacred Heart – 783
  5. Saint Francis University – 780.5
  6. LIU – 566
  7. Stonehill – 289.5
  8. Merrimack College – 238
  9. Le Moyne – 189

Led by Shannon Welcome, the Blue Devils finished 1-2-3 in the women’s 200 fly, the first such sweep of the season. Welcome, who didn’t even swim this race at last year’s meet, dropped a second off her best time to win in 2:04.36. Next season, Welcome, a senior, will pass the torch to Gabi Wroblewski, a sophomore, who was 2nd in 2:04.45, and Sophie Milhomens, a freshman, who was 3rd in 2:04.53.

Howard’s Zuzu Nwaeze broke the run, finishing 4th in 2:04.96.

That was the only win of the day for Central Connecticut State, though depth, especially in diving, helped them extend their lead.

After Welcome’s win, it was the top-heavy Wagner Seahawks who ran out the swimming portion of the session. Aura Vilarassa, a sophomore from Spain, won the 100 backstroke in 54.76. That took 1.2 seconds off her previous best time and marked another event winner on Friday who didn’t swim that race at last year’s meet. Howard’s Chanice Posada was 2nd in 55.34, and CCSU went 3-4 for crucial points.

The trend continued with Rebekka Luoto of Wagner, a 20-year-old freshman, winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.26. That put her more than three seconds ahead of the runner-up Michaela Spears of Howard, who touched in 1:03.45.

Luoto’s swim was an NCAA “B” Standard and just-missed the Meet Record by a quarter-of-a-second.

Wagner finished the day with a 3:43.43 win in the 400 medley relay, placing two seconds ahead of Howard. Luoto was the difference-maker on the breaststroke leg.

The diving scoring was mostly split between Sacred Heart and CCSU, with Lola Barrett from Sacred Heart winning the 3-meter in a new Meet Record of 295.70 points. With the women’s meet scoring C finals, teams with divers can do a lot of damage relative to those who don’t.

SwimSwam: A Big Howard Relay DQ Leaves Wagner Men in the Lead After Day 4 of NEC Championships

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