PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Maritime women's swimming team closed out the 2016-17 season at the Metropolitan Swimming Championships at the Rutgers Aquatic Center on the campus of Rutgers University this past weekend.
As a team, Maritime finished 14th overall on the final leaderboard with a total of 119 points as the Privateers had their best finish at the event in recent years. NCAA Division II Bridgeport won the event with 1,098 points, while Rowan led the Division III schools and finished second overall with 1,086 points. The Privateers finished ahead of Staten Island and Lehman, who finished 15th and 16th respectively.
Eight program records fell for the Privateers, as five individual event records fell while three relay records were set this past weekend.
Sophomore
Katia Aaron (Clarence, N.Y./Clarence) set a pair of distance records with a time of 5:41.48 in the 500 freestyle on Friday, before setting the new standard in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 19:37.48.
Fellow sophomore
Emily Zink (Brockport, N.Y./Brockport) broke the school record for the 200 breaststroke as she swam to a 2:53.57 in the 200 breaststroke on Sunday morning.
Freshman
Katherine Green (Oakdale, N.Y./Connetquot) also broke a pair of her own program marks as she opened the action on Friday with a new personal best in the 50 freestyle with a 25.73, before closing out the weekend with a 55.82 in the 100 freestyle on Sunday morning.
The trio of Zink, Aaron and Green also paired up with junior
Sarah Soulagnet (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Homeschooled) to form a record-setting quartet that broke the previous marks in three separate relays. On Saturday, the quartet qualified in the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:02.23, which had broken the previous mark. The record stood for only a few hours as they re-set the mark with a time of 2:00.93 in the finals.
The foursome went on to set a new program record in the 800 freestyle relay on Saturday evening with a time of 8:43.86, becoming the first Privateer squad to break the nine-minute mark. They went on to close out the weekend with a time of 3:58.78 in the 400 freestyle relay as they became the first quartet to break the four-minute mark in the event for the Privateers.
The weekend for the women opened with the 200 freestyle relay on Friday morning, which saw seniors
Ashley O'Brien (Queens, N.Y./Mary Louis Academy) and
Danielle Leahy (Cocoa Beach, Fla./Cocoa Beach) team up with sophomore
Erica Davis (Oakdale, N.Y./Connetquot) and freshman
Gabrielle Thompson (Alexandria, Va./T.C. Williams). The foursome posted a time of 1:57.51 in the preliminary round, but failed to post a time in the finals due to a disqualification.
The 500 freestyle was up next, which saw Aaron continue to break her own program record as she posted a time of 5:41.48. In the 200 individual medley, Zink picked up a personal-best time of 2:30.95. Green closed out the individual races on Friday with the record-setting time of 25.73 in the 50 freestyle preliminaries, while Thompson also picked up a PR with a time of 27.96.
Friday closed out with the Maritime women having Soulagnet, Zink, Aaron and Green register the first points of the weekend with a time 4:30.37 during the 400 medley relay, which was good enough for 13th best of the teams participating.
The 200 medley relay opened Saturday action with Soulagnet, Zink, Aaron and Green picking up a time of 2:02.23 in the preliminaries. Later in the evening, the Privateers bested their time with a program-record 2:00.93 as the team picked up an additional 26 points with a 14th place finish.
Green became the first individual to qualify for the finals with a time of 1:03.79 in the 100 butterfly. During the finals in the evening session, Green posted a time of 1:02.85 and finished in 22nd place for another three points.
The 200 freestyle was up next as Aaron and Davis, along with freshman
Bethany Champlin (Bronx, N.Y./Saint Vincent) and sophomore
Megan Alicea (Copake, N.Y./Taconic Hills) all picked up personal best times in the event. Freshman
Maura Neely (Towson, Md./Maryvale Prep) also set a PR in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:33.81.
The 800 freestyle relay was the final race of the day, which saw Green, Zink, Soulagnet and Aaron picked up a new program record with a time of 8:43.86.
Finally on Sunday, Green opened up the day with another program record as she picked up a 55.82 in the 100 freestyle. She qualified as an alternate for the finals, but with no scratches she did not compete in the evening session.
Zink was up next as she netted the program record in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:53.57; Neely also picked up a personal best in the event with a 3:25.07.
The third record of the day came from Aaron in the 1,650 freestyle, as she re-set her previous mark from a season ago with a new time of 19:37.48. Soulagnet, Davis and O'Brien all registered personal bests in the event for the Privateers to close out singles competition on the weekend.
Maritime set its fourth record of the day and eighth overall on the weekend with a time of 3:58.78 in the 400 freestyle preliminaries as Zink, Soulagnet, Aaron and Green proved to work well together once again to re-write the record book for the third time on the weekend.
The Privateers close out their historic season with a program-record seven overall wins and a record five conference wins. The team will look to use its momentum from this weekend's performance at the Metropolitan Championships to propel forward into the 2017-18 season, which is slated to begin in either late October or early November later this year.
