Leonard, Boatwright Collect GNAC Titles During Saturday Finals
WELLESLEY, Mass. – Sarah Leonard (Brockton, Mass.) broke her own school record in winning the GNAC title in the same event for the fourth straight year, and Kyleigh Boatwright (Roseville, Calif.) collected her first conference title as the 2020 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Swimming and Diving Championships continued Saturday at the Boston Sports Institute.
Leonard cut 0.17 seconds off the 50 backstroke record she set last year, winning the event at the conference championships for the fourth straight time in 27.44 seconds, 1.03 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. Caoilinn Bassignani (Franklin, Mass.) also scored in the 50 backstroke, finishing third in the B-final and 13th overall, combining a preliminary time of 32.53 seconds with a time in the evening of 33.19 seconds.
After finishing second in the 200 backstroke preliminaries, Boatwright raced out to the early lead in the championship final and maintained her advantage to touch the wall first in 2:14.31. Cecelia Adelfio (Gloucester, Mass.) finished fourth in the event for the Pride with a time of 2:20.94 after qualifying with a preliminary mark of 2:20.16.
Leonard led off the 400 medley relay, followed by Julia Burke (North Andover, Mass.), Alexa Lancisi (Milford, Mass.), and Boatwright as the quartet finished second with a time of 4:12.01. Individually, Burke finished in second place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:11.02, with Lindsey Bone (Rosenberg, Texas) posting an eighth place finish in 1:18.25 after qualifying with a preliminary mark of 1:17.61.
Lancisi qualified for the championship final of the 100 butterfly, finishing seventh in the evening session in 1:03.38. Jessica Zernitsky (Newton, Mass.) won the consolation final of the event in 1:04.92 to finish 11th overall, while Mallytza Ibarra Davila (Yuma, Ariz.) touched the wall fifth in the B-final in 1:09.67, ending up 15th overall.
Ibarra Davila also qualified for the consolation final of the 100 freestyle, finishing fourth in that race in 1:00.73 for a 14th place finish overall. Ryan Moran (Arlington, Mass.) finished 10th in the B-final in 1:05.98 to finish 20th overall.
Moran competed in the first race of the evening session, finishing fourth in the consolation final of the 500 freestyle in 6:04.02 to post a 14th place finish overall. In the championship final, Adelfio touched the wall sixth with a time of 5:41.20, followed by Thalia Bowie (Lexington, Mass.) in seventh place in 5:45.61 and Gloria Sutton (Suffield, Conn.) in 10th place in 6:00.50 after qualifying with a preliminary time of 5:57.70.
Elisabeth McQuaid (Marlborough, Mass.) finished in fifth place in the one meter diving event with a six-dive score of 166.95.
As a team, the Pride women moved up to fourth place with 373 points, close behind second place Norwich with 385 points and third place Husson with 381 points. Regis is just ahead of Colby-Sawyer, currently in fifth place with 365 points. Simmons is once again controlling the team competition, bringing 700 points into the final day.
The 2020 GNAC Swimming and Diving Championships conclude Sunday, Feb. 2, starting with the preliminaries for eight swimming events at 9:30 a.m. The finals of those events, along with the traditional meet-concluding 400 freestyle relay, will commence at 4 p.m.