Atlantic 10 Championships: Day One

BUFFALO, New York, February 18. THE Xavier men and Massachusetts women are at the top of the leaderboard after the first day of competition at the 2009 Atlantic 10 Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, held at the Flickinger Center.

The Musketeers sit atop the men’s standings with 69 points after two events, followed by defending champion UMass (66) and Duquesne (58). Rounding up the scoring are La Salle (57), Fordham (56), Saint Louis (52), George Washington (52) and St. Bonaventure (40).

UMass holds the lead on the women’s side with 107 points after three events. They are followed by Fordham (99), defending champion Richmond (74), Saint Louis (72), La Salle (68), Duquesne (62), St. Bonaventure (59), Xavier (56), Rhode Island (56) and George Washington (38).

In the women’s 200-yard medley relay, Richmond captured first place in a conference-record time of 1:40.17 behind the team of senior Lauren Beaudreau, juniors Katie Sieben and Alex Helland and freshman Charlotte Brackett. The time broke the previous record of 1:43.49 also set by Richmond and also set a new pool record for the Flickinger Center.

For the men’s 200-yard medley, St. Bonaventure’s squad of senior Pat Henahan, sophomores David Kundzik and Kevin Murphy and freshman Peter Koenig earned gold in the event with a time of 1:29.43, breaking the Atlantic 10 record of 1:31.00 set by Massachusetts in 2007.

Senior Karen Upperco of Massachusetts helped lead her team to a medal stand sweep in the women’s one meter dive with a score of 270.70.

Fordham turned in another conference record with a time of 7:24.25 in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The team of juniors Caitlin Napoli, Tressa Dunn and freshmen Kelly Bunster and Courtney Collyer teamed up to break the record of 7:28.19 set by Richmond in 2007.

In the final event of the first day, Xavier took hold of first place overall in the championships with a record setting time of 6:40.53 in the 800-yard free relay. Seniors Patrick McGrath and Jake Burke, sophomore Nathan Green and freshman Michael Zennedjian erased the previous conference record of 6:41.63, set by Rutgers in 1995.

The championships continue Thursday with morning trials at 10:30 am and finals at 6:30 pm.

Special thanks to the Atlantic 10 for contributing this report.

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