The University of Mary Washington swimming teams built hefty leads in the first night of finals at the 2013 Capital Athletic Conference Championships at St. Mary's College on Friday.
The women started their dominating night by knocking nearly three seconds off their seed time, as Katie Fago, Elizabeth Lewan, Hannah Hagy and Stephanie Hallock swam to a time of 1:37.48. The Eagles finished 1-2-3-4-6 in the 500 freestyle, with junior Jessica Singer tapping the line first at 5:00.89, more than five full seconds off her seed time. She was followed by Tara Banks in second, Lindsay Ancellotti in third, Maddie Carinci in fourth, and Ashley Walnut in sixth.
UMW finished 2-3-4-5-6 in the 200 yard IM, as Abby Cox finished second at 2:09.69, followed by Robin Brazier, Kristen Callahan, Allison Martin, and Alex Parrish. Freshman Stephanie Hallock won the 50 yard freestyle at 24.24, with Katie Fago taking third, Elizabeth Lewan taking fifth, and Meredith Thompson sixth. The 400 medley relay closed the night in improbable fashion, kocking an unreal 10 seocnds off their seed time. The quad of Katie Fago, Amber Kerico, Hannah Hagy, and Hallock touched out at 3:52.48, a new CAC record and NCAA provisional cut. Fago's leadoff leg was a school record.
The men were equally dominant, winning every race in building a strong lead in the standings through one day. The 200 freestyle relay of Alex Anderson, Matt Garstka, Vance Solseth, and Nick Eckhoff won with a CAC record time of 1:23.62. Anderson's leadoff leg was an NCAA B cut and school record. Senior Eckhoff, who had broken the school and CAC record in the 500 yard freestyle in the morning prelims, broke that mark again by more than a second, finishing at 4:35.78, a provisional NCAA qualifying time. He was followed by Andrew Garofolo in second, Zach Eisig in fourth, Jack McHugh in fifth, and Vince Dunn in sixth.
Andrew Cole took third in the 200 yard IM at 1:58.04. The Eagles dominated the 50 freestyle, as Alex Anderson finished first at 20.79, followed by Garstka in second, Solseth in third, Mike Hudgins in fifth, and Matt Arnold in sixth. The men closed the night by shaving five seconds off their seed time with a first place finish of 3:21.41, a new conference record and NCAA B cut. That relay included Michael Yelmgren, Peter Slattery, Anderson, and Eckhoff. Yelmgren's leadoff leg was an NCAA provisional qualifier and CAC record.
The championships will continue through the weekend with preliminaries at 10 am and finals at 6 pm.