Women’s Swimming Finishes Second At GNAC Championship
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BOSTON, Mass. – Elms College freshman Devon DeGrazia (Westport, Mass.) set a pair of Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) records to help pace the Blazers to a second place finish at the GNAC Championship hosted by Simmons College.
Simmons totaled 270 points to capture first place honors while Elms tallied 216 points to place second. St. Joseph College (Conn.) notched 206 points and placed third, St. Joseph's College (Maine) amassed 76 points to finish fourth, Norwich University followed with 74 and Husson University rounded out the six team field with 54 points.
DeGrazia glided to a new GNAC and Simmons pool record in the first leg (50-yard backstroke) of the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 29.23 while sophomore Tessa Dudunake (Northampton, Mass.), freshman Ashley Kirchner (Dalton, Mass.) and sophomore Emalee Furtek (Ludlow, Mass.) helped guide the team to a new GNAC record in the event (1:57.27).
DeGrazia also set a new GNAC record and an Elms school record in the 100-yard freestyle swimming to a first place time of 55.92 while Dudunake, sophomore Chalis Bird (Windsor, Mass.) and Furtek finished third, fourth and fifth respectively. DeGrazia also won the 50-yard backstroke registering a time of 29.54.
Dudunake and Kirchner finished first and second in the 50-yard breaststroke with times of 33.07 and 33.44, while senior Katie Roberts (Torrington, Conn.) notched a fifth place time of 36.82 in the race.
Freshman Julia Lane (West Springfield, Mass.) came in fifth in the 100-yard backstroke (1:10.09) and seventh in the 1650-yard freestyle (20:58.82), while sophomore Tricia Ruell (Chicopee, Mass.) placed seventh in the 100-yard backstroke (1:14.53).
Kirchner and Roberts placed second and seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke with times of 2:38.20 and 2:57.76, freshman Abby Wingfield (Florence, Mass.) registered an eighth place finish in the 200-yard butterfly (3:03.16) and freshman Gabrielle Calvanese (Agawam, Mass.) swam to a sixth place finish in the 400-yard individual medley (5:58.01).
The squad of Bird, senior Theresa Pitassi (Naugatuck, Conn.), freshman Emily Schneider (West Kingston, R.I.) and Lane closed out the meet with a third place mark 800-yard medley relay in a time of 9:15.68.
2010 Swimming & Diving All-Tournament Team
200 Free Relay – Suki Hood, Kristine Ellegard, Kelsey Cronin, Shannon Dunn (SJC)
500 Free – Devon Degrazia (Elms)
200 IM- Ashley Kirchner (Elms)
50 Free- Tessa Dudunake (Elms)
100 Fly- Sarah Wheeler (SJC)
200 Free- Devon Degrazia (Elms) GNAC RECORD 2:05.66
100 Breast- Anne Vayda (Norwich)
50 Fly- Ashley Kirchner (Elms)
200 Back- Amanda Mason (Husson)
400 Medley Relay- Devon Degrazia (GNAC RECORD 100 Back leg 1:05.31), Tessa Dudunake, Ashley Kirchner, Emalee Furtek (Elms) GNAC RECORD 4:22.04
3 Meter Diving- Amanda Dirksmeier (Simmons) GNAC, POOL, TEAM RECORD 333.60
1 Meter Diving- Amanda Dirksmeier (Simmons) GNAC RECORD 233.30
200 Medley Relay- Devon Degrazia (GNAC RECORD 50 Back leg 29.23), Tessa Dudunake, Ashley Kirchner, Emalee Furtek (Elms) GNAC RECORD 1:57.27
1650 Free- Hanna Gajewski (SJM)
50 Breast- Tessa Dudunake (Elms)
100 Back- Virginia Bette (Simmons)
100 Free- Devon Degrazia (Elms) GNAC RECORD 55.92
400 IM- Amanda Mason (Husson)
200 Breast- Anne Vayda (Norwich)
200 Fly- Sarah Wheeler (SJC)
50 Back- Devon Degrazia (Elms)
800 Free Relay- Anne Karasek, Molly Bohannon, Amy Davis, Virginia Bette (Simmons) GNAC RECORD 8:46.38
