2023 CAA Championships: Sub-51 Breast Splits, Broken Sergio Lopez Record, On Day 2

2023 CAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 22 – Saturday, February 25, 2023
• Hampton Aquaplex, Hampton, VA
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: William & Mary (1x)
  • Men: UNCW (1x)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets

Yesterday, the big story from the session of the 2023 CAA Swimming & Diving Championships was a pair of sub-23 breaststroke splits from Delaware’s Toni Sabev and Towson’s Brian Benzing.

Well, the pair repeated the heroics today with a pair of sub-51 splits on the 400 medley relay to close out the night. Sabev split 50.88, helping Delaware to a 3:07.92 victory and shattering the meet and conference records. Gavin Currie led off in 46.63, Simeon Sabev split 46.66 on fly, and Miguel Vasquez anchored in 43.75.

UNCW was also under the previous record time of 3:09.89 with a 3:09.64. Towson ended up 3rd in 3:10.78 as Benzing split 50.94.

To put those breaststroke splits into perspective: only six of the 28 teams that legally finished the 400 medley relay at last year’s Division I NCAA Championships got sub-51 splits.

The UNCW men only got win on the day, but it was a big one. Sam O’Brien won the 500 by over three seconds, with a time of 4:19.02. That only is that nearly five seconds faster than his winning time from last year, but it took down two notably old conference records:

• The overall records of 4:19.61, set by Sergio Lopez (yes, that one) in 1991, when he was swimming for American University.
• The meet record of 4:21.42, set by George Mason’s Tom Koucheravy in 2007. Koucheravy wasn’t recruited out of high school, and walked on at George Mason, but ended up 6th in the 1500m at the 2008 Olympic Trials.

Times aside, the race of the night had to be the 50 free, where the top three men finished as tightly as possible without tying.

Towson senior Michael Fazio got his hand on the wall first in 19.91, followed closely by a pair of Seahawks. Noah Sipowski took 2nd in 19.92, followed by E’Likai Crompton-English at 19.93. Last year, Fazio won this event with a time of 19.82.

A few events before his Stirling relay splits, Benzing won the 200 IM with a 1:44.41, over two seconds faster than his second place time of 1:46.62 last year. His time broke both the meet record of 1:45.33 set by W&M’s Ben Skopic in 2020 and also the overall conference record, which former Towson swimmer Jack Saunderson had previously set at 1:44.97 in 2019.

On the women’s side, the UNCW Seahawks took firm control of the team standings despite only winning one swimming event. That win came courtesy of Brooke Knisley, who won the 500 free in 4:46.95, over four seconds faster than anyone else in the field, although about two seconds off her winning time from last year. The Seahawks racked up the points in the event, as they had four women in the A-final. UNCW got an additional win from diver Courtney Klausen, who took the 3m event with a score of 290.35, just 1.1 points ahead of Northeastern’s Kiki Murphy.

Delaware’s Mira Selling won the 200 IM in 1:58.08, while Northeastern’s Jamie Koo went 22.21 to set a meet record. William & Mary closed out the night with their second relay win of the meet, a two second victory in the 400 medley relay (3:36.15) that knocked two seconds off of the meet and conference records. Kat Vanbourgondien led off in 54.14, followed by Ellie Scherer (1:00.16), Sophia Heilen (52.92), and Kate Stevenson (48.93).

Scores After Day 2

Women

1. UNCW – 282.5
2. Northeastern – 214
3. Delaware – 201
4. William & Mary – 198.5
5. Towson – 147
6. Drexel – 133
7. Monmouth – 77
8. Stony Brook – 74

Men

1. UNCW – 291
2. Towson – 233
3. Delaware – 223
4. Drexel – 205
5. William & Mary – 132.5
6. Monmouth – 95.5