UMBC

Ryan Karrer broke head coach Chad Cradock's record in the 1,650-free, repeating as conference champion.

Boston-The UMBC men’s swimming and diving team continued its dominance of the America East Conference, as the Retrievers wrapped up their third straight league title Sunday evening at Boston University’s Aquatic Center. Since UMBC joined the America East in 2003-04, there has been no other men’s swimming and diving champion. The Retrievers wracked up 878.5 points, 201 points more than second-place Binghamton’s 667.5.

The Retrievers finished second on the women’s side with 733 points, just 54 behind New Hampshire, who repeated as league champion for the second straight year, totaling 787 points.

In the first men’s event of the night, junior Ryan Karrer won the 1,650-yard freestyle in 15:31.99, repeating as conference champion and smashing the previous record of 15:42.44, set in 1999. Karrer also broke the UMBC school mark of 15:34.61, set by head coach Chad Cradock in 1996.

Freshman Evan Roseberry (15:39.19) placed second in the mile, while sophomore Joey Sementelli (16:25.91) finished fifth and senior Joe Raymond (16:42.94) came in seventh.

Senior Geza Szabo went out in style in the final swim of his collegiate career, breaking his own school record in the 200-fly with a time of 1:48.39. Szabo had originally set the mark at 1:49.03 as a freshman in December 2002. After winning the conference title in the event for the last two years, he took silver Sunday evening.

Sophomore Eric Skrabacz, the only other Retriever finalist in the event, placed fourth (1:54.21).

Four Retrievers finaled in the 100-free, with freshman Justin Bronson leading the way in second place (46.09), followed by junior Juan Ortiz (47.31) in fifth, junior Tim Conway (47.40) in sixth and senior Adam Blais (47.47) in seventh.

Senior Ian Carey swam a season best in the 200-breast (2:06.10), taking silver in the event. Sophomore Scott Auchter placed fourth (2:07.44) and freshman Freddie Reitz tied for fifth (2:08.17).

In the men’s 200-back, freshman Milos Djukic placed fourth (1:53.29), while junior Nebojsa Zimonjic finished fifth (1:54.29) and junior Brian Jaeggi came in seventh (1:55.66).

Finally, the 400-free relay team of Bronson, Blais, Conway and Ortiz finished second in 3:04.84.

UMBC led the competition from the start of the four-day meet and finished with 878.5 points. Binghamton was a distant second with 667.5 points beating out Stony Brook by only half a point, as the Seawolves placed third with 667 points. Host Boston U. was fourth (487), followed by Maine (32) and New Hampshire (188).

Junior Meghan Sackett won her third individual title, taking gold in the 1,650-free and setting a new championship meet record with a time of 16:49.39, shattering the old mark of 17:02.99 set in 2001.

Sophomore Rachel Lesslie, last year’s champion in the event, placed third (17:22.55), while sophomore Katrina Hubbard was 10th (18:00.80) and sophomore Erin Mathews came in 14th (18:20.41).

Junior Ashley Houghton become the first-ever female Retriever diver to win a conference title, as she took home the gold in the one-meter competition (253.80) and was named Most Outstanding Diver after also placing second in the three-meter competition on Friday. Junior Katie Spohnholz came in eighth (224.35).

The UMBC women won the final event of the evening, as freshmen Daniele Surkovich and Robin Klein, senior Elyse Gibson and Sackett took gold in the 400-free relay, lowering the school record set earlier this year by nearly a second with a time of 3:28.45.

Surkovich took second in the 100-free (52.44) and was later named Most Outstanding Rookie. Klein (53.55) placed seventh in the event, while Gibson (52.98) was ninth and sophomore Lindsey Engler (53.72) was 11th.

In the women’s 200-back, junior Agnes Stanislawska took the silver (2:03.66) and senior Amber Harris grabbed the bronze (2:04.95). In addition, swimming very shortly after competing in the mile, Lesslie placed eighth in the 200-back (2:11.16). Sophomore Mary Scott came in 16th (2:16.32) in the event.

Freshman Tina Cantwell took the bronze in the 200-breast (2:19.64), while freshman Joy Wilde placed fourth (2:24.08) and freshman Courtney White came in 10th (2:28.20).

Finally, freshman Elisha Peregino took fourth in the 200-fly (2:10.50), while freshman Brittany Bertoli placed 14th (2:15.77).

UNH topped all teams with 787 points and was followed closely by UMBC (733). Third-place Boston University (550) placed third and was followed by Maine (433), Stony Brook (367.50), Vermont (314) and Binghamton (210.50).