Central Tops Wagner on Senior Day

The Central Connecticut swimming and diving team earned a senior day victory in a dual-meet against Wagner on Saturday, Feb. 2 after being out-swam by the Seahawks earlier this season. The Blue Devils tallied 200 points in comparison to 100 for the Seahawks and took first in 15 out of 16 events.

The day began with a strong Blue Devil start as senior Taylor Friedmann and juniors Helene Neuhaus, Kristina Gulia, and Kellen Power took first in the 400 yard medley relay, notching the fastest time in the Northeast Conference thus far in the 2013 season.

Central continued its strong run in the second event, the 1,000 yard freestyle, with a one-two-three finish from junior Kasey Chilton (10:30.34), freshman Selene Chilton (10:43.74) and sophomore Karen Novak (10:45.93).  

Senior Katie Lang turned in an impressive performance in her final home meet as she took first in the 200 yard butterfly (2:07.49), the 100 yard butterfly (59.25) and in the 200 yard IM (2:10.95). Both of her butterfly performances yielded season-best times.

In addition to her gold performance in the 400 medley relay, Friedmann also capped off her final home performance with two individual first-place finishes and another relay gold. She topped the 200 yard freestyle field with a time of 1:53.95 and paced the 500 yard freestyle swimmers with a time of 5:02.82.

The Blue Devils also took first in the 200 yard freestyle relay. The team of Friedmann, Neuhaus, senior Allison Rasile and junior Erin Massey touched the wall in 1:38.37.

Rasile also took gold in the 200 yard backstroke, touching the wall in 2:06.89 marking a season-best time, and placed second in the 200 yard freestyle (1:54.83). She also took silver in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:13.55.

CCSU took the top two spots in the 100 yard backstroke in a field led by Neuhaus. She set a new pool record with her time of 57.34, surpassing the old record by 29 hundredths of a second. Touching the wall behind Neuhaus was senior Hannah Packer coming in at 1:00.58.

Neuhaus also earned gold for Central in the 100 yard freestyle, touching the wall in a season-best 52.87.

In the 100 yard breaststroke, Gulia amassed a commanding lead and ultimately took first with a time of 1:06.60. She also placed first in the 200 yard breaststroke with a time of 2:26.86.

Freshman Jessica Goldman swept the diving competition finishing on top in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. She posted a score of 222.9 in the 1-meter, followed by sophomore Kate Dwyer, who totaled a score of 205.5 for second. In the 3-meter, Goldman earned a score of 217.70 and Dwyer took third with 213.95.

Click here for complete meet results.

The Blue Devils will return to action on Saturday, February 16 at UCONN for their last meet before the Northeast Conference Championships on February 27 through March 2.