Richmond Women, George Washington Men Continue Winning Streaks at A-10 Championships
At the A-10 Championships this weekend in Hampton, Va., the University of Richmond women and George Washington University men added to their conference title winning streaks. Richmond won for the 17th year in a row, edging out GW by 27.5 points, 600-572.5, with Duquesne taking third (516.5). For the men, GW scored 784.83 points to dominate the field, with George Mason second (585.66) and St. Bonaventure third (506.5).
The Richmond women opened competition with a win in the 200 medley relay. The team of Hannah Wieczorek, Presley Baber, Lena Amare and Julia Krichev finished in 1:38.71. Baber, Krichev, Caitlyn Hughes and Wieczorek also secured first in the 200 free relay, setting a meet record in the process. The team’s lone individual win belonged to Baber, who took out the 100 free in 49.84. To close out the win, the team of Baber, Krichev, Hughes and Amare clocked 3:19.87 for the win in the 400 free relay.
Runnerup team George Washington got its first win in the 100 breaststroke from Natalie Sens in 1:01.29, and Ava Topolewski followed with a top result in the 1650 freestyle. Her mark of 16:23.28 was under the NCAA qualifying standard of 16:25.29, earning Topolewski an automatic bid at the NCAA Championships as a conference winner.
Duquesne’s women were first in the 800 free relay, with Sierra Snow, Lexi Sundgren, Kaitlyn Connors and Ashley Freel clocking 7:16.52. Snow added an individual win in the 500 free, finishing in 4:45.77 to edge out GW’s Topolewski by one hundredth. Freel won the 100 butterfly in 53.38, and Snow returned to claim victory in the 200 back (1:55.15).
La Salle’s Gabriela Herbreder was the winner of the 200 IM in 1:58.75, and she returned to capture first in the 400 IM as well (4:15.21). A third victory followed in the 200 breast (2:12.91). Teammate Victoria Fenn grabbed first in the 50 free (22.64). The La Salle team of Rosalia Marin Martinez, Carlota Ungo Quero, Cecilie Frost and Fenn captured first place in the 400 medley relay in a time of 3:40.26.
St. Bonaventure’s Dhavgely Mendoza grabbed first in 3-meter diving (315.60) and 1-meter diving (303.10). Anna Forjan took the 200 free victory in 1:48.75, and later that same night, she touched first in the 100 backstroke in 53.92.
Fordham’s Hayley Clark secured the final individual win of the meet, going 1:59.93 to top the 200 fly.
In the men’s meet, the George Washington team of Ganesh Sivaramakrishnan, Alessandr Borsato, Daniel Nagy and AJ Wood captured first place in the 200 medley relay in 1:25.84. Andres Brooks took the win in the 400 IM in 3:47.60. Borsato topped the 100 breast in 53.08, and teammate Holden Thomas secured the win in the 100 back in 46.24, sneaking under the NCAA qualification time and securing the ticket to the national championships.
In the 200 back, Shae Stratton was the winner in 1:43.53, and Benjamin Sosnowski came from behind to win the 200 breast in 1:57.02, with Borsato (1:57.33) and Preston Lin (1:57.82) completing the 1-2-3 sweep for GW. Rounding out the meet, the team of Nagy, Matija Radjenovic, Sivaramakrishnan and Wood won the 200 free relay in 2:53.72.
George Mason won the 800 free relay with the team of Tate Anderson, Alex Crown, Cody Scifres and Ryan Serbia clocking 6:23.83. Anderson dominated the 200 IM in 1:44.78, and later, the team of Ian Rodgers, Jack Chapman, Aoun Al-Hiari and Anderson won the 400 medley relay in 3:08.34.
Davidson’s Dylan Felt took out the 500 free in 4:19.28, and he backed it up with another win in the 200 free, his time of 1:33.46, surpassing the NCAA qualifying mark and earning a spot to swim next month in Atlanta. Davidson’s Henry Shoemaker was the winner of the 1650 free in 15:09.61.
La Salle’s Felix Jedbratt was the winner of the 50 free in 19.18, easily securing his spot at the NCAA Championships as he surpassed the qualifying mark of 19.43. In the next race, Jedbratt then led off the winning La Salle team in the 200 free relay, joining with Austin Wakefield, Tarik Gusic and Carter Perkins to clock 1:18.29 and win by six hundredths.
The next day, Jedbratt won the 100 fly in 45.02, more than a second under the NCAA qualifying mark. Perkins topped the 100 free for La Salle in 42.37, setting a new conference record and qualifying for NCAAs, and Jedbratt reached the NCAA level in a third event with his 200 fly win in 1:41.72. That mark also set a new A-10 record.
Fordham diver David Vargas Garcia was the winner on 1-meter (341.55) and 3-meter (354.15).