Posted: Feb 19, 2012

Men’s Swimming Places 8th, Women’s Swimming Places 10th at NEISDA Championships

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. – The Elms College men's swim team placed 8^th out of 12 teams and the women's team earned 10^th place out of 22 teams to complete its 2011-12 season following Sunday's action at the three-day New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships at the Upper Valley Aquatics Center in White River Junction, Vt.

On the men's side, senior Garrett Brune (Lakeville, Mass.) earned a new school record in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:27.62) in the preliminaries, and then lowered that record in the finals with a time of 2:25.85. Brune placed 15^th in the event.

In the finals, senior Nicholas Provost (Three Rivers, Mass.) placed 14^th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:11.17), while sophomore Aaron Starke (Chicopee, Mass.) glided to a 14^th place mark in the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 50.63.

Junior Mark Gehring (West Springfield, Mass.), Provost, sophomore Keegan Goan (Westbrook, Maine) and Starke powered the 400-yard freestyle relay team to a sixth place finish with a time of 3:23.01.

Gehring also swam to a time of 18:05.89 in the 1650-yard freestyle, while Goan turned in a time of 58.31 in the 100-yard individual medley in the preliminaries.

For the women, sophomore Devon DeGrazia (Westport, Mass.) set a new school record in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 18:40.14.

DeGrazia teamed with junior Chalis Bird (Windsor, Mass.), sophomore Ashley Kirchner (Dalton, Mass.), and junior Tessa Dudunake (Northampton, Mass.) surged to a new school mark in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:47.54).

Dudunake added a fifth place finish in the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 1:03.73, while Bird swam to a 14^th place finish in the preliminaries of the 100-yard freestyle with a mark of 56.64.