UMBC

Junior Tina Cantwell added victories in the 400 IM and 100 breast on Saturday at the Patriot Invite.

Freshman Brad Reitz set a new Patriot Invite record in the 100 fly on Saturday.

Freshman Mat Carson won the 400 IM at the Patriot Invite on Saturday.

FAIRFAX, Va.—The UMBC men’s swimming and diving team has taken a commanding lead after the second day of competition at the 2007 George Mason Patriot Invitational, held in Fairfax, Va., while the women’s team has made up a 24-point deficit to enter into a tie for first with host George Mason.  The men have amassed a total of 901 points, almost 500 points more than second place George Mason (402), while the women have a total of 553.5 points.

Freshman Brad Reitz (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) continued his unbeaten streak in the 100 butterfly, adding a new Patriot Invite meet record in the process as he claimed gold in the event with a time of 49.70, breaking the previous record of 49.78 set by Alex Righi of Yale in 2005.  Reitz started the evening off with a win as he teamed with junior Sven Schneider (Tallinn, Estonia/Tallinn German Gymnasium/LSU), senior Scott Auchter (Wernersville, Pa./Wilson), and sophomore Matt Mattingly (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) to claim gold in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:32.92, just shy of the meet record of 1:32.75 set by Duke in 2004.

Reitz also finished as the runner-up in the 200 freestyle to junior teammate Justin Bronson (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada/Msgr. Paul Dwyer) with a time of 1:42.04 as compared to Bronson’s 1:41.74.  Bronson, the 2006 Patriot Invite champ in the 100 fly finished second to Reitz with a time of 50.63, while Mattingly was third in 51.19, Schneider was sixth in 52.28 and sophomore Zach Vonder Haar (Gahanna, Ohio/Columbus Academy) seventh with a time of 52.35.

Reitz’s brother, junior Freddie Reitz (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) finished third behind Bronson and Reitz with a time of 1:43.05, while junior P.J. Sterba (Frederick, Md./Gov. Thomas Johnson) and freshman Keilan Freeman (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Argyll Centre) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, with times of 1:43.82 and 1:44.08.

B. Reitz, Sterba, and Bronson also teamed with junior Evan Roseberry (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) to finish the night with a win as they turned in a time of 6:53.64 in the 800 free relay.

The B relay team of Freeman, freshman Eric Jones (Gambrills, Md./Arundel), sophomore Fred Deal (Richboro, Pa./Father Judge/Council Rock South), and F. Reitz was not far behind as they finished second with a time of 6:56.55.

Sophomore Rasmus Kutt (Tallinn, Estonia/Gustav Adolf Gymnasium), freshman Phil Novotny (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Warde), Vonder Haar, and Deal also teamed earlier in the night to finish fourth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:35.51.

Kutt added another individual gold in the 100 backstroke as he swam a time of 50.94, while junior Milos Djukic (Novi Sad, Serbia/Svetozar Markovic) was third in 51.69 and Schneider was sixth in 52.74.

Freshman Mat Carson (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Silverthorn Collegiate Institute) added the only other individual victory on the men’s side as he swam a time of 4:04.83 to win the 400 individual medley.  Roseberry was the runner-up in 4:07.30, while Freeman finished fourth with a time of 4:09.85 and junior Adam Eiben (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) was sixth in 4:12.68.

Other finalists on the men’s side included Auchter who finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 57.27, Mattingly who was fifth in 59.91, and Novotny who was sixth in 1:00.67.  In the finals of the 3-meter diving, freshman Seth McNew (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) led the Retrievers, finishing third with a score of 231.70, while freshmen Mike Morabito (Owego, N.Y./Owego Free Academy) and Chris Cheng (Raleigh, N.C./Enloe) were sixth and seventh with scores of 221.15 and 198.65, respectively.

On the women’s side, junior Tina Cantwell (Sinking Spring, Pa./The Hill School) tallied two victories on the day as she turned in winning times of 4:31.62 and 1:04.92 in the 400 IM and 100 breast.  Sophomore Tereza Kaplanova (Prague, Czech Republic/J.G. Jankovskeho) finished just behind Cantwell in the 400 IM, turning in a time of 4:32.03 and then took gold in the 100 back with a career-best time of 59.21, the third time in two days that she recorded a best time in the event.  Freshman Godwin completed a 1-2-3 sweep of the 400 IM, as she turned in a time of 4:33.89 for third place.

Kaplanova and Cantwell also teamed with junior Daniele Surkovich (Ellicott City, Md./Wilde Lake) and senior Lindsey Engler (Salisbury, Md./James M. Bennett) to finish third in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:48.87.  The B team of freshmen Julie Cantwell (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson) and Gaby Johnston (Windsor, Conn./Loomis Chaffee School), sophomore Lindsay Sherman (Bethany, Conn./Amity), and junior Joy Wilde (Greenlawn, N.Y./Harborfields) finished ninth in the 200 medley with a time of 1:52.39.

Surkovich added a victory of her own as she won the 200 free with a time of 1:51.56, while Sherman finished sixth in the 100 fly in a time of 58.83.  Surkovich also teamed with Godwin, and freshmen Danielle Cruz (Catonsville, Md./Western Tech) and Sarah Ryan (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Oceanside) to finish second in the 800 free relay, while the team of senior Carly Fitzpatrick (Delran, N.J./Delran), freshman Erin Wohlers (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Charles W. Baker), junior Christina Ng (Bethpage, N.Y./Plainedge) and Sherman finished seventh in 7:58.43.

Freshman diver Crystal Gall (Balgonie, Saskatchewan, Canada/Dr. Martin LeBoldus) also qualified as the top seed for the 3-meter diving with a personal-best and NCAA Zone qualifying score of 279.70.

The final day of the competition at the Patriot Invite will see preliminary and finals session in the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 1650 free, men’s 1-meter diving, women’s 3-meter diving and the 400 free relay.  Sunday’s action is slated to begin at 9:00 a.m. with a preliminary session, while the finals session will commence at 5:00 p.m.