EAST MEADOW, N.Y. - LIU Brooklyn women's swimming junior
Briana Vega won an Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship in the 50 freestyle Saturday evening, while her teammates took silver in three events at the 2017 ECAC Swimming and Diving Championships. The meet is being held at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, Long Island.
Vega, the defending NEC Champion in the 50 free, won the race in 23.45 seconds. The time matched her season best, and it tied the all-time ECAC meet record. The record was originally set by Lou Moores of Stevens in 2012. There were a competition-high 140 swimmers in the 50 free from 17 schools competing at the ECACs.
In the evening session on Saturday, junior Milly Furneaux swam the 100 breaststroke in the second fastest time in school history, coming in second in 1:02.67. Furneaux cut almost a full second off her seed time of 1:03.49, which she swam two weeks ago at Rutgers. Freshman
Jeanne Touchette-McGowan finished tied for fifth in the event (59.45).
In the very next event, the 100 backstroke, freshman Amanda Peren earned the Blackbirds' second-straight silver medal. Peren was just 0.15 off of the top time in a field of 74 swimmers.
At the conclusion of Saturday's races, the LIU team of Touchette-McGowan, Furneaux, Noemie Lacroix-Moreau and Vega swam away with second place in the 400 medley relay in 3:52.76.
QUICK LAPS
- A fourth-place finish by Touchette-McGowan set a new school record in the 400 individual medley with a 4:32.92 mark. She crushed a two-year old time of 4:40.65 by former Blackbird Aleksandra Dziewa.
- A team of Vega, Jodi Hawki, Addison Donohue and Peren took fourth place in the 200 freestyle relay to cap off the morning session. Their time of 1:37.93 was the fastest for an LIU squad this season.
- Touchette-McGowan and Peren finished seventh and eighth respectively in the 200 individual medley, in 2:07.78 and 2:07.82. Junior Mads Carrigan came in 29th at 2:13.29 in the same race.
- Lacroix-Moreau swam two freestyle events for the Blackbirds, finishing 17th in the 200 free (1:56.96) and 22nd in the 500 free (5:15.25). She also picked up 18th in the 100 backstroke (1:00.92).
- Freshman Avery Vernon was 20th in 100 breaststroke, with Carrigan and Vega placing a few spots behind. Vega also improved on her season mark in the 100 butterfly, coming in at 1:00.36 (26th place).
- With the team's success on Saturday, LIU moved up three spots in the team rankings, slotting seventh with 418.5 points in the team's first ECAC Championship appearance.
- The competition concludes on Sunday morning; the morning session begins at 10 a.m. with four individual events and one last relay at the Nassau County Aquatic Center.