Cambridge, MA – The Wagner women’s swimming & diving team will look to claim its second Northeast Conference (NEC) title in the last three years when they compete at the 2016 NEC Championships, held at the Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
This year’s championship, which begins February 24 and runs through Saturday, February 27, will be streamed live on NEC Front Row (www.necfrontrow.com). Also, a live results link will be provided each day of competition.
Competition begins on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. with a pair of relays, the 200 Medley and 800 Freestyle Relays. The action continues on Thursday with preliminaries starting at 10:00 a.m. for the 500 Free, 200 Individual Medley, 50 Free, and the 200 Free Relay. Thursday’s finals are set to begin at 7:00 p.m.
On Friday, preliminaries start at 10:00 a.m. with the 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Free, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Back, 400 Medley Relay and 1-Meter Diving. Friday’s finals will start at 6:00 p.m.
The finale on Saturday features the prelims for the 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Fly, 400 Free Relay and 3-Meter diving at 10:00 a.m. Finals begin at 6:00 p.m. and conclude with the crowning of the 2016 NEC Champion.
Wagner finished just short of back-to-back NEC titles last year, 24 points behind the 2015 Champion Central Connecticut. Under the guidance of fifth-year head coach Colin Shannahan, the Seahawks claimed first-place in 11 events while setting 13 records last year. Shannahan brings back last season’s Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet in junior Anu Nihipali (Honolulu, HI/Hawaii Preparatory Academy) and Outstanding Diver of the Meet in sophomore Sam Lavrich (Audubon, PA/Methacton).
The Green & White wrapped up the 2015-16 regular season with an overall record of 7-4 while posting a 5-1 mark in the NEC. In all, the squad broke a total of 22 records on the season including 12 pool records, eight school records and two Frank Elm meet records.
Wagner will be led by returners Nihipali, junior Katja Claesson (Fullerton, CA/Troy) and seniorAmanda Lucia (Easthampton, MA/Easthampton), who all qualified and competed at the 2015 AT&T US Winter National Championships. During Winter Nationals, Nihipali became the first swimmer in Wagner program history to qualify for U.S. Olympic Trial’s in the 100 Back with a long-course meters time of 1:02.77. For her efforts, she was named NEC Swimmer of the Week and ECAC Division I Corvias Swimmer of the Week for the week of December 9.
Thus far in her junior season, Nihipali garnered three NEC Swimmer of the Week citations and was named the ECAC Division I Corvias Swimmer of the Week (Dec. 9) along with Wagner Female Student-Athlete of the month of December.
Claesson was named NEC Swimmer of the Week on two occasions and Wagner Female Student-Athlete of the month of January honors when she went undefeated in each of her individuals events for the entire month. For Lucia, CollegeSwimming.com announced that she was the Swimmer of the Week on October 21, and two weeks ago, the NEC recognized her with Swimmer of the Week honors.
Among the divers, Lavrich and senior Erica Curry (Fountain Valley, CA/Fountain Valley) have proven to be a force to reckon with on the boards. Lavrich took first place on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards against Central Connecticut in the final meet of the regular season en route to earning NEC Diver of the Week and ECAC Division I Diver of the Week (Feb. 9) honors.
Back on October 28, Curry was named the NEC Diver of the Week after delivering a record-breaking performance at the Iona Quad Meet, in which she took first place on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, posting school records in both events with 238.85 and 254.40 points, respectively.
Along with Lavrich and Curry on the boards will be sophomore Grace Solipaca (Philadelphia, PA/Bishop Eustace).
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Swimming news courtesy of Wagner Swimming & Diving.