2015 ECAC Open Day Three: Pitt Women, Navy Men Hold On For Team Titles

2015 ECAC Open Swimming & Diving Championships

• Dates: Friday, February 27 – Sunday, March 1, 2015; prelims 11am, finals 6pm
• Location: Trees Pool, University of Pittsburgh(Eastern Time Zone)
• Live Results: Available
• Live Video: Available

Complete results available here.

Women’s Meet

The final session of the 2015 ECAC Open began with the women’s 1650 free, in which Army’s Sabrina Mortell paced the field through the 1000. Mortell had built up a 3-second lead at the 600 mark, and was still up by 1.2 at the 1000, but by the 44th lap, Penn freshman Kristen Moss had pulled even. Over the next 22 lengths of the pool the pair traded stroke for stroke until the last 50, when Mortell dug down and found another gear. The Army freshman came home in 28.2 for a 16:53.73 to 16:54.22 victory. Three Marist freshmen followed: Shannon Gordon, Melanie Newton, and Deirdre Connor, all with best times for the season.

Emma Levendoski of Bucknell smoked the field in the 200 back with a 1:55.60 for the win and the ECAC meet record. Levendoski also time trialed the 200 back and was even faster: she clocked a Trees Pool record time of 1:54.91, and was 1.3 seconds faster than her winning time at 2015 Patriot League Championships, for around the 48th fastest time in the NCAA. Navy freshman Kaitlyn O’Reilly touched second with 2:00.45, just in front of New Hampshire freshman Jessica Harper (2:00.61).

Elizaveta Baykova of New Hampshire picked up her second win of the meet in the 100 free. After her record-breaking 200 free on Saturday, Baykova came up with a 50.63 on Sunday to outpace the field in the 100. Senior Irene Katopodis of Penn finished second with 51.01, while UNH’s Sarah Broderick took third in 51.08.

Sophomore Emily Escobedo of UMBC lowered her own 2014 ECAC meet record in the 200 breast with 2:09.88. New Hampshire senior Katie Mann was runner-up with 2:10.99, while Pitt’s Kinga Cichowska, who had set the meet record in the 100 breast on Saturday, took third with 2:11.87.

A couple of close battles played out in 200 fly. Navy sophomore teammates Hanna Gillcrest and Charlotte Meyer traded stroke for stroke in the race for first, with Gillcrest winning over the last 25, 2:01.67 to 2:01.85. The race for third was just as exciting: Bucknell freshmen Sage Maggi (2:04.62) and Julianna Foss (2:04.78) were joined by junior Emma Siewert of Penn (2:04.75) at the wall.

Penn emerged victorious in a close race for the 400 free relay title, with a 3:26.46 from Katopodis (51.24), Kimberly Phan (51.82), Laine Higgins (52.27), and Bernadette D’Alonzo (51.13). Pitt followed just .2 behind with 3:26.66 (Emily Murphy, Melissa Pocsai, Charlene Yuan, and Jessica Nederlanden). Vermont took third in 3:29.37.

Final Team Standings– Women

1. University of Pittsburgh 590.5
2. U.S. Naval Academy 483
3. University of Pennsylvania 437
4. Bucknell University 413
5. Marist College 386.5
6. U.S. Military Academy 282
7. University of Vermont 256
8. University of New Hampshire 189
9. Simmons College 105.5
10. UMBC 99
11. Columbia University 74
12. Saint Peter’s University 45
13. Marymount University 44
14. Regis College 32
15. Drew University 28
16. Colby-Sawyer College Chargers 24
17. Frostburg State University 22
18. Harvard University 20
19. University of New England 12
20. Cabrini College 10
21. Bethany College 8
22. Rider University 5.5

Men’s Meet

Rider freshman Zachary Molloy went a season-best 15:28.11 to win the men’s 1650 ahead of Ryan Murphy of Marist (15:31.25) and Bucknell’s Brian Phillips (15:41.81). There were big drops from nearly everyone in the mile, but Columbia freshman Mitch Herrera, in particular, improved his seed time by more than 48 seconds.

Bucknell freshman Chris Devlin won the 200 back with 1:45.80, just off his second-place finish at Patriot League Championships. Matt Tankle of Pitt was runner-up with 1:47.05, while Columbia freshman Zach Thomas took third in 1:47.20.

The 100 free title went to Army’s Chris Szekely in 44.53; Codi Saunders of Columbia was 44.73 for second. Rider’s Matthan-Matthew Martir finished third in 45.41, with Evin Rude of Army (45.61) and Brian McKenna of Binghamton (45.65) close behind.

Binghamton sophomore Ruan Zorgman avenged his third-place finish in the 100 breast with a narrow victory in the 200. Zorgman came to the wall in 1:59.02, barely edging UMBC’s Leo Endres (1:59.13) and Navy’s Morgan DeJong (1:59.55).

Navy’s Jonathan Debaugh earned his second fly title of the meet; having won the 100 on Saturday, he finished with a victory in the 200 as well. Debaugh hit the wall in 1:46.76, ahead of Drew May of Columbia (1:49.48) and Zach Blankenbeker of Army (1:50.58).

In 1-meter diving, Pitt sophomore Anthony Galante scored 320.90 points to win, while Josh Dodway of Marist (295.85) and Devin Zdanowski (291.00) finished second and third, respectively.

Army ended the meet with a victory in the 400 free relay. Michael Dustin (45.45), Rude (44.64), Devin McCall (45.44), and Szekely (44.27) combined for 2:59.80. Marist went 3:01.21 for second place with Murphy, Spencer Kelley, William Drennen, and John Spitzer. Navy (Joseph Jaime, Michale Bundas, Kevin Stoddard, and Riley Mita) took third in 3:03.12.

Final Team Standings – Men

1. U.S. Naval Academy 661.5
2. U.S. Military Academy 428.5
3. Columbia University 418
4. SUNY Binghamton 400
5. Marist College 346
6. University of Pittsburgh 295
7. University of Pennsylvania 264
8. Bucknell University 259
9. Rider University 195
10. University of Maine, Orono 128
11. UMBC 87
12. Regis College 60
13. Saint Peter’s University 54
14. Marymount University 42
15. Loyola University 22