By Kelsey Lynch, Swimming World College Intern
GENEVA – The 2015 Atlantic 10 Swimming and Diving Championships began on Feb. 18. The 200-yard IM relay, Women’s 1-meter diving, and the 800-yard freestyle relay opened the meet on Wednesday evening.
St. Bonaventure’s men and Richmond’s women are predicted to win the meet and hold their titles for another year. There was some close racing on Wednesday night and Massachusetts showed some impressive racing skills in both their men’s relays.
St. Bonaventure’s men started off their meet strong with a win the 200-IM relay (1:28.86). Massachusetts (predicted for second place in conference) finished second (1:29.72) and George Mason (1:29.80) in third close behind Mass.
More notably was the Men’s 800-yard freestyle relay with Massachusetts’ men coming back from third place throughout the race to win the event by almost two seconds (6:31.86). The race was neck and neck between St. Bonaventure (6:33.55) and St. Louis (6:35.37) until Massachusetts’ Alessandro Bomprezzi finished with a great performance.
As the newest addition to the A10 Conference this season, Davidson’s women performed exceptionally well with a stand-out performance to lock in a new meet and pool record (7:16.81). Sophomore Elise Lankiewicz (1:47.95) set a new meet record set by Rhode Island’s Chaya Zabludoff last year.
Richmond won the Women’s 200-IM relay (1:40.70), with Fordham (1:41.76) in second to out-touch George Mason (1:41.96) in third.
Massachusetts dominated the Women’s 1-meter diving event finals with freshman Emma Roush in first, Rachel Dushman in second and Mac Eckhardt in third.
Watch the Atlantic 10 Championships LIVE here.
2015 Atlantic 10 Championships, Day One – Results