UMBC

Rachel Lesslie

Geza Szabo

"Let the celebration begin"

– The UMBC men’s swimming and diving team capped a perfect season by claiming the America East title with a score of 920 points, while the Retriever women took third place with a mark of 502. Binghamton was the runner-up on the men’s side (611), followed by Stony Brook (570). In a tight race on the women’s side, New Hampshire (754) ended Northeastern’s (737) five-year reign, as the Wildcats’ 400 freestyle relay team edged the Huskies by 0.81 seconds in the final event of the weekend to take the conference title.

The depth of the UMBC men’s team helped the Retrievers to 18 individual medals on the day. In today’s finals, they were led by sophomore Ryan Karrer, who won the 1,650 freestyle, senior Jakub Sroczynski, who won gold in the 200 backstroke, and junior Geza Szabo, who finished first in the 200 butterfly.

Karrer was followed by sophomores Evan Swann and Cliff Schmardel in the mile, as Swann and Schmardel took second and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, Sroczynski led Nebojsa Zimonjic and Brian Jaeggi in the 200 back, as Zimonjic finished fourth, and Jaeggi, fifth. Szabo also had fellow Retrievers with him on the podium as freshmen Eric Skrabacz and Zack Hurd were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 200 fly.

Other individual winners included junior Adam Blais, who was fifth in the 100 free at 47.39, freshman Karn Yisomruay, senior Aaron Schenker, and junior Ian Carey, who finished second, third, and fifth in the 200 breaststroke. In addition, sophomore Jeff Salgado was second in the 3-meter diving competition and freshman teammate Tim Ward was fourth.

On the women’s side, freshman Rachel Lesslie claimed gold in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 17:16.10, and classmate Katrina Hubbard was third with 17:53.84. In addition, senior Lindsey Prather and sophomore Agnes Stanislawska finished second and third, respectively, in the 200 breaststroke, while junior Amber Harris was fourth in 200 backstroke with a time of 2:05.64. Senior Jessica Prosen also gained points for UMBC with a fourth-place finish in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:09.48.

Female Team Scores

 1  NEW HAMPSHIRE  -  754

 2  NORTHEASTERN -  737

 3  UMBC  -  502

 4  MAINE  -  413

 5  STONY BROOK -  390.50

 6  BOSTON UNIVERSITY  - 316.50

 7  BINGHAMTON -  212

 8  VERMONT  - 180

 Male Team Scores

 1  UMBC  -  920

 2  BINGHAMTON -  611

 3  STONY BROOK -  570

 4  BOSTON UNIVERSITY  -  489

 5  NEW HAMPSHIRE  - 346

 6  MAINE  - 323