Boston College Sets Three School Records, 18 Pool Marks in Handling BU
It was a record-setting spree Saturday at the Margot Connell Recreation Center, with Boston College setting 18 pool records and three school marks in sweeping crosstown rival Boston University.
The women’s team rampaged by a 235-63 margin. The men won handily, 198.5-98.5.
Megan Kramer set the tone from the beginning. She went 9:52.89 in the 1,000 freestyle, clipping nearly six seconds off her program record. She set the pool mark just shy of 24 seconds. Kramer would also win the 500 free, knocking 7.5 seconds off the pool record she had set in the fall of 2021.
Samantha Smith also set a BC program record in the 200 butterfly, her time of 2:00.80 eclipsing the championship-season time of Victoria Lin from 2020. Smith was also second in the 200 backstroke, a time that would’ve been a pool record if not for teammate Adair Sand.
Sand notched three pool marks on the day. She went 1:48.00 to club the 200 free mark by 2.5 seconds, getting within six tenths of her program record from the fall. She went 1:57.44 to outduel Smith (1:58.15) in the 200 back, the first two swimmers to crack two minutes in that pool. And Sand led off the Eagles’ 400 free relay in 50.89, trimming her pool mark in the 100 free and starting the foursome to a pool-record time of 3:26.88. Kelly Scott, Giovanna Baldacci and Sofia Zinis rounded out the squad.
Baldacci lowered her pool record in the 100 breaststroke (to 1:02.60) and captured the 200 breast mark with a result of 2:15.10. She also swam breaststroke on the 200 medley relay that set a pool record in 1:40.93 (with Lauren Sielicki, Zinis and Scott).
Julienne Saliou set the other Boston College women’s swimming record by going 2:04.73 to chip .05 off the 200 individual medley mark. Olivia Poulin scored 302.40 on 1-meter diving to improve her pool record. She also won 1-meter diving. Sielicki won the 100 fly and 100 back, and Zinis captured the 50 free.
Diving provided the BC men with their first record, Dale Nickerson scored 388.88 points to set the school standard on 3-meter. Runner-up Josiah Klock (380.25) and third-place Agnus Williams (375.60) also exceeded the mark, set in 2014 by Cole Malatesta (374.18). Williams won 1-meter in a pool-record 346.13.
The Boston College men’s team re-set both relay records. The 200 medley was so fast that the first three finishers – BC’s A and B teams, plus BU’s A team – were under the mark set in 2019 by Duke. The record, though, belongs to the A squad of Michael Horkan, Christian Perez-Mari, Matthew Szekely and Darien Betances.
Bryce Henkel, Szekely, Charlie Clark and Andres Wong capped the day by going 3:02.23 to set the pool mark in the 400 free. BU’s A relay was under that mark, too. (Justin Lee and Ethan Thomas swam on both for the Terriers.)
Jack Doyle set the pool mark in the 200 IM by going 1:49.02, nearly two seconds quicker than the existing mark. Zach Szmania chipped about the same margin off the 1,000 free record with his 9:17.83. Szamania also won the 500 free, and Szekely swept the sprint events.
BU didn’t come away empty-handed on the record-breaking. Senior Kyle Falkstrom went 55.31 to etch his name next to the 100 breast, then went 2:00.73 to capture the 200 breast mark. Tony Ponomarev sliced two seconds off the pool mark in the 200 back in winning in 1:47.08.
Thomas won the 100 free for BU, Sarsen Whatmore rallied to win the 200 free and Lee was second in the 50.
.png "ACC Swimming - logo"){kind=logo}
How did Szekely sweep the sprint events if Thomas won the 100?