2016 MEN’S & WOMEN’S CCSA CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, February 17 – Saturday, February 20
- Gabrielsen Natatorium, Athens, GA (Eastern Time Zone)
- Prelims 10AM / Finals 6PM (Wed-Sat)
- Defending Men’s Champion: University of Maryland Baltimore County (results)
- Defending Women’s Champion: Florida Gulf Coast University (results)
- Championship Central
- Meet Program
- Live results
- Live Video (costs money)
Early on this meet, it seemed as if a University of Maryland Baltimore County was in jeopardy of not repeating as conference winners. After seizing the lead on day three, the Retrievers never looked back. They ended up winning by over 200 points over second place Incarnate Word.
Florida Gulf Coast dominated the women’s meet from start to finish. The Eagles won more than half the individual events at this competition. Despite some good challenges from Liberty, the win was never in doubt. The biggest drama for FGCU heading into the final night is whether they would achieve a time that would allow them to field relays at the NCAA championships.
Women’s 1650 Freestyle
Lauren Oglesby defended her conference title from 2015, but not without a fight. The Gardner-Webb sophomore trailed FGCU’s Lani Cabrera by a good margin early on. Oglesby took the lead at the 1000 mark and ended up winning by a comfortable margin. She was, however, more than twenty seconds short of her own conference record.
Top three
- Lauren Oglesby, Gardner-Webb 16:41.17
- Lani Cabrera, FGCU 16:43.03
- Kristin VanDeventer, Liberty 16:49.89
Men’s 1650 Freestyle
Kyrylo Shvets of Incarnate Word won a dogfight with UMBC’s Felix Richtsfeld to keep the title for his squad. Although Shvets got an early lead, Richtsfeld fought back and actually took the lead with 500 yards to go. The two were in a dead heat with one fifty left, and it was Shvets who had a little more kick left to take the victory.
Top three
- Kyrylo Shvets, Incarnate Word 15:37.87
- Felix Richtsfeld, UMBC 15:38.13
- Connor Hennessy, Incarnate Word 15:41.35
Women’s 200 Backstroke
Elise Haan scored another easy victory, her third of the meet. As predicted yesterday, she ended up sharing Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet honors with fellow FGCU freshmen Fanny Teijonsalo.
Haan came up just short of Kira Toussaint’s meet record in this event, although she has plenty of eligibility left to chase it.
Top three
- Elise Haan, FGCU 1:54.76
- Victoria Tschoke, Liberty 1:58.11
- Mykala Arnold, Georgia Southern 1:58.52
Men’s 200 Backstroke
Ahmed Wahby touched first for UMBC, they took 4th-6th as well in this race. Wahby was in third going into the last 50. He then outsplit the field by nearly a second to inch ahead.
Top three
- Ahmed Wahby, UMBC 1:46.81
- Aaron Moran, Incarnate Word 1:46.84
- Anton Mikaelsson, Old Dominion 1:47.45
Women’s 100 Freestyle
As mentioned earlier, Fanny Teijonsalo third win in this event clinched her share of Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet. Teijonsalo’s time of 48.72 will be interesting to watch when NCAA psych sheets are released. It took 48.89 to make the meet a year ago, so that time will likely fall barely on one side or other of the cut line.
Top three
- Fanny Teijonsalo, FCGU 48.72
- Katie Latham, FGCU 49.37
- Kendall Hough, Liberty 49.45
Men’s 100 Freestyle
Nathan Lile made it three starts and three conference records with his 100 freestyle win. That performance earned him the outstanding swimming of the meet. The Gardner-Webb senior has a chance to qualify for the NCAA championships for the first time in his career.
Top three
- Nathan Lile, Gardner-Webb 43.26
- Gregor Sporlein, UMBC 43.90
- Matthieu Burtez, Florida Atlantic 44.16
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
After a disqualification a day ago prevented her from defending her 100 breaststroke title, Katie Armitage came roaring back to win and set a conference record in this event. This is yet another time that will likely be on the NCAA bubble for FGCU.
Morgan Rulevich continues to make an immediate impact for Asheville, getting on the podium after a 4th place finish the day before.
Top three
- Katie Armitage, FGCU, 2:11.51
- Morgan Rulevich, UNC Asheville 2:15.45
- Prudence Rooker, Liberty 2:16.79
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
Leo Endres took his second victory of the meet for UMBC by the narrowest of margins. The senior took an early lead, one which would shrink to Incarnate Word’s David Moore with each passing 50. Ultimately he got the touch by just .01.
Top three
- Leo Endres, UMBC 1:58.99
- David Moore, Incarnate Word 1:59.00
- Kyle Paxton, UMBC 2:00.02
Women’s 200 Butterfly
Christina Elmgreen made it seven individual events won by FGCU freshmen with her wire-to-wire win in this event. She won easily, with the highest drama provided by third place Yee Ching Wong overcoming a nearly two second deficit in the final 50.
Top three
- Christina Elmgreen, FGCU 1:57.63
- Alicia Finnegan, Liberty 1:59.53
- Yee Ching Wong, FGCU 2:01.97
Men’s 200 Butterfly
Reed Mathews nearly set an NCAA “A” time on his way to dismantling the conference record in this event by three seconds. That time looks pretty certain to get him invited to the NCAA championships. Incarnate Word was able to grab the next two spots although the conference crown was already out of reach.
Top three
- Reed Mathews, Old Dominion 1:43.04
- Beau Fusilier, Incarnate Word 1:47.39
- Kaulen Applin, Incarnate Word 1:49.74
Women’s 400 Freestyle Relay
As expected, Florida Gulf Coast won another relay with ease. However, the Eagles did not make a relay standard of any kind. With three possible NCAA qualifiers in Armitage, Teijonsalo and Haan, they are unlikely to field a relay unless they can improve their 400 medley time from earlier in the meet.
They showed a little end of the meet fatigue, with both Latham and Teijonsalo slower than their individual performances earlier in the session.
Top three
- FGCU 3:18.49
- Liberty 3:21.33
- Georgia Southern 3:24.67
Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay
Nathan Lile should consider racing again tomorrow- he simply gets faster every time he dives in the water. He re-broke his conference record leading off for Gardner-Webb. This time it was good enough to lead his team to a relay victory.
Top three
- Gardner-Webb 2:58.41
- Old Dominion 2:59.09
- Florida Atlantic 2:59.13
Women’s Final Score and Awards:
Five coaches split the Coach of the Meet award: FGCU’s Neal Studd, Georgia Southern’s Nate Kellogg, North Carolina’s A&T’s Shawn Hendrix, North Florida’s Ian Coffey and Elizabeth Lykins of UNC Asheville.
As mentioned earlier, Teijonsalo and Haan shared Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet.
Georgia Southern’s Emma Wiesel won Diver of the Meet, and her coach David Giambra was named Diving Coach of the meet.
The final scores were as follows:
- Florida Gulf Coast University 1670
- Liberty University 1358
- Georgia Southern University 925
- Gardner-Webb University 898
- Campbell University 715
- University OF The Incarnate Word 683
- University of North Carolina Asheville 506
- University of North Florida 470
- Howard University 183
- North Carolina A&T State University 177
- Virginia Military Institute 166
Men’s Final Score and Awards
UMBC’s Chad Cradock was named Coach of the Meet for his team’s repeat victory. As mentioned earlier, Gardner-Webb’s Nathan Lile was named Outstanding Swimmer of the Year.
Florida Atlantic’s Ryan McIntire was named Diver of the meet, and his coach Bryan Gilooly shared Coach of the Meet with Old Dominion’s Noah Scully.
The final scores were as follows:
- Umbc Swimming & Diving 1502
- Univ OF The Incarnate Word 1281
- Old Dominion University 1255.5
- Gardner-Webb University 1111
- Florida Atlantic University 969
- New Jersey Institute of Tech 528.5
- Howard University 335
- Virginia Military Institute 270
Full Results, 2016 CCSA Championships