Men’s And Women’s Swimming Compete At GNAC Championships

Wellesley, MA - The Elms College men's and women's swimming team began their postseason competition at the Boston Sports Institute in Wellesley MA on 1/31-2/2. The Blazers women ended up finishing the meet in 7th place, while the men finished in 5th place.

The meet began on friday evening with the 1650 Freestyle and the 200 Medley and Freestyle Relays. Both the Men and Women 200 Free Relay teams swam to season best times, with the Women coming in 9th place in a time of 1:50.05, and the Men finishing 5th with a 1:36.59. 

Cricket Cavar (Vernon, CT) swam to a season best in 3 different events in the 1650 Freestyle finishing in 6th place. Cricket Managed a 6:06.02, 12:21.28 and 20:29.16 in her 500, 1000, and 1650 respectively in the same swim. The 200 Medley Relays swam strong, with the Women swimming to a 7th place finish, while the Men swam to 5th place in the event. Both the Women and Men swam to season best times in the event.

On Saturday, the Blazers started strong with the 500 Freestyle. Again Cavar swam to a season best time in 5:55.24 in prelims, and followed up with a 5:51.95 in finals. In the next event, Julianne Gordon (Plaistow, N.H.) and Nia Major (Springfield, MA) swam to personal best times in the 50 Backstroke, going 33.30 and 41.87 respectively. Paul Ferraro (Walpole, MA) also swam to a season best in the 50 Backstroke in 32.17.

In the 200IM, Kelly Scianna (Milford, CT) and Sarah Cotto (Westfield, MA) and both swam personal best times. Both swimmers dropped time from prelims to go 2:25.86 and 2:46.73 respectively in the final heats. Scianna's time places her 3rd all-time in Elms College Swimming history in the event. In the next event, 100 Butterfly, Brittany North (Palmer, MA) and Victoria Wanko (South Yarmouth, MA) both swam to personal best times, placing 8th and 17th respectively. 

North's 100 Butterfly was not only a personal best, but also a school record in the event. This marks the 3rd weekend in a row where North has earned a school record in the 100 Butterfly, lowering the record from a 1:05.89 to 1:04.48.

In the Men's 100 Butterfly, Eddie Helldorfer (Brunswick, ME) swam to a season best in 56.17, just off his personal best time Nick Taylor (Turners Falls, MA) also swam to a season best time, just missing the A-final. In the next event, Cavar, Hope Daley (Merrimack, N.H.), Nora Newman (Woburn, MA) and Keiry Marquez (West Sprigfield, MA) all swam to season best times in the 100 Breaststroke, scoring valuable points for the Blazers in the B-final. Jacob Connolly (Westbrook, ME) and Deven Senrchia (Ludlow, MA) followed up on the Women's success in the 100 Breaststroke, swimming to a 5th and 6th place finish in the event.

The 200 Backstroke was the next event, North swam to a new personal best time in prelims with a 2:20.63. In the A-final, the pair of North and Scianna placed 5th and 7th respectively. In that final heat, Scianna also swam to a new personal best time of 2:22.59. In the B-final, Cotto swam to a 14th place, also in personal best fashion with a 2:46.05. Paul Ferraro swam to an 8th place in the 200 Backstroke, scoring valuable points for the Blazers.

In the final individual event of the day, the 100 Freestyle, Ashley Cronkhite (Lewiston, ME) and Gordon place 15th and 16th. Michael Losardo Pittsfield, MA) also scored for the Blazers in the 100 Freestyle, finishing in 8th place. In the final event of the evening, the 400 Medley Relay, the team of Scianna, Cavar, North, and Gordon swam to a 7th place. The Men's team of Hellforfer, Connolly, Taylor and Ryan Nodell (Monson, MA) swam to a 5th place finish. Both teams swam to season best times in the event.

The third and final day of the meet started out with the 200 Freestyle. Cronkhite and Ashley Krzykowski (Agawam, MA) swam to personal best times in the B-final in 2:13.59 and 2:45.16 respectively. Losardo also finished in 9th place in the 200 Freestyle A-final, just off his season best time.

In the next event, the 200 Butterfly, the pair of Helldorfer and Taylor swam to 3rd and 8th place respectively. Nick's time of 2:24.38 is a new personal best in the event, while Eddie's 2:12.71 is a season best swim, just over two seconds off his school record in the event. In the next event, Scianna picked up a win in the B-final in a personal best time with a 1:05.75. This swim places Scianna 4th in Elms College Swimming history. Paul Ferraro also swam the 100 Backstroke, swimming to a season best time of 1:16.26. 

The trio of Daley, Newman, and Marquez placed 16th, 17th and 18th in the 200 Breastroke scoring valuable points for the Blazers. All three women swam the 50 Breaststroke later in the meet, placing 16th, 18th and 19th respectively. Jacob Connolly and Devin Senerchia also completed the 200 Breastroke/50 Breaststroke double. The pair swam to a 6th and 8th place finish in the 200 Breaststroke, and 6th and 9th in the 50 Breastroke respectively.

In the 50 Freestyle, the pair of Crokhite and Gordon picked up valuable points in the B-final finishing 17th and 20th respectively. Both swam to a season best in the event. Nodell also picked up points for the Blazers in the 50 Free, finishing in 7th place. Cotto returned to the pool in the 100IM, swimming to a personal best time of 1:17.84, and backed up that time in finals, swimming just .07 off her new best time. Losardo also swam the 100IM, picking up a 4th place finish, just off his personal and season best time.

Nodell swam strong in the 50 Breaststroke, picking up a 5th place finish in personal best time fashion. The final individual event of the meet was the 50 Butterfly. North swam to a 7th place finish, earning a personal best time of 28.43, slightly off of the school record in the event. The pair of Helldorfer and Taylor finished 2nd and 6th. Both swimmers managed personal best times in the event in 24.70 and 26.60 respectively.

The final event of the meet, the 400 Freestyle Relay, saw the Blazers again swimming new season best times. The team of Gordon, Scianna, Cronkhite, and North finished in 9th place in a time of 4:07.19. The Mens team of Losardo, Taylor, Nodell and  Helldorfer finished in 5th place.

The Blazers return to the pool on 2/20-2/23 for the 100th annual NEISDA Championships.