UMBC

Senior Lindsay Sherman

BALTIMORE—The UMBC men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams head to Boston to compete in the 2010 America East Swimming and Diving Championships Thursday to Sunday in Boston. The Retriever men are looking for their seventh consecutive America East title and 12th conference championship in a row, while the women look to reclaim their title after finishing second at last year’s meet. The action starts Thursday at 6 p.m.

The women are led by seniors Sam Maccherola (Woolford, Md./South Carroll/Tennessee), Tereza Kaplanova (Prague, Czech Republic/Gymnazium J.G. Jankovskeho) and Jennifer Esposito (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst/C.W. Post). Maccherola is the top seed in both the 200 and 500 free events. She leads the 500 free field by over five seconds. Top-seeded Kaplanova will battle Boston University’s Lauren Drake for the 200 IM title. Kaplanova will also challenge a Terrier for first in the 200 breast. Esposito claimed the 200 fly title at last year’s meet and hopes to defend her title, seeded second in the event. She will also look to claim a title in the 100 fly, in which she is seeded third.

The men are led by juniors Eric Jones (Gambrills, Md./Arundel) and Brad Reitz (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) and senior Matt Mattingly (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West). Jones is seeded second in the 200 free just .09 seconds behind first-seeded Boston University senior Arik Seiler. Jones will also be a top competitor in the 100 free, ranked fourth. Reitz, two-time defending champion in the 200 fly, seeks to defend his title, seeded third in the event. Reitz, who is ranked fourth in the 100 fly, will look to reclaim his title after falling to Terrier junior Matt Rickett last year. Mattingly is seeded in the top five in four events and will look to capture titles in his final championship meet. In the diving events, freshman Andrew Eckhoff (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) hopes to capture a title in his first championship meet. Eckhoff is seeded second in both board events.

For the second year in a row, the UMBC Dawg Blog will be posting live updates from the pool deck of all seven sessions. You can check out the Dawg Blog at http://umbcdawgblog.wordpress.com. If you would like email updates of every blog entry, email tfenster@umbc.edu with the subject Swimming and Diving Updates.