UMBC

Freshman Brad Reitz was part of the record-setting 800 free relay and the second-place 200 medley relay on Thursday night.

ORONO, Maine-The UMBC men's swimming and diving teams is in second place and the women's team is third after the first day of competition at the America East Conference Championships in Orono, Maine.  The men have a total of 103 points, just 15 points behind meet-leading Boston University (118).  The Boston U. women are also in first with 125 points, followed by New Hampshire with 100 and the Retrievers with 84.

The men's 800 free relay team of junior Justin Bronson (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada/Msgr. Paul Dwyer), freshmen Brad Reitz (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) and Keilan Freeman (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Argyll Centre), and junior Freddie Reitz (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) started the meet off by setting a new America East Championship and UMBC school record with a time of 6:42.44.

The time was over a full second faster than the previous record of 6:44.18, which was set by Bronson, F. Reitz, Evan Roseberry, and Juan Ortiz at last year's conference championships.

Brad Reitz was also part of the second-place 200 medley relay along with junior Sven Schneider (Tallin, Estonia/Tallinn German Gymnazium/LSU), senior Scott Auchter (Wernersville, Pa./Wilson), and sophomore Zach Vonder Haar (Gahanna, Ohio/Columbus Academy) which swam a time of 1:32.33.

The only other competitor on the men's side was freshman Seth McNew (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood), who finished fifth in the men's 1-meter diving with a score of 243.30.

On the women's side, the 800 free relay team of freshman Rebecca Godwin (Catonsville, Md./Notre Dame Prep), senior Lindsey Engler (Salisbury, Md./James M. Bennett), freshman Sarah Ryan (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Oceanside), and junior Daniele Surkovich (Ellicott City, Md./Wilde Lake) finished second with a time of 7:31.17.

The 200 medley relay team of sophomore Tereza Kaplanova (Prague, Czech Republic/J.G. Jarkovskeho), junior Tina Cantwell (Sinking Spring, Pa./The Hill School), sophomore Lindsay Sherman (Bethany, Conn./Amity), and senior Carly Fitzpatrick (Delran, N.J./Delran) was third with a time of 1:47.79, while freshman Crystal Gall (Balgonie, Saskatchewan, Canada/Dr. Martin LeBoldus) claimed silver in the 3-meter diving with a score of 253.10.

Day two of the competition resumes with preliminaries at 10:00 a.m. on Friday and a finals session at 6:00 p.m.