EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – The LIU women's swimming team continue to have a strong showing at the 2020 Northeast Conference championship meet Friday evening at Nassau County Aquatics Center. The Sharks moved up in the team standings, and currently sit in fifth place with one day left in the competition. Junior Amanda Peren won an NEC Championship in the 200 freestyle, setting another conference record in the process, while the 400 medley relay capped the night with a silver medal.
 
For the second night in a row, Peren dominated the competition in her final heat, and made history in the process. Tonight, it was the 200 freestyle. In the morning's prelims, she not only swam the fastest heat by far, she also flirted with the NEC record right then, coming in with a 1:48.29, just a hundredth of a second off the mark. And then in the night's championship final, she shattered the record and demolished the field. The Virginia native hit the wall in 1:47.26, beating a record that had stood since 2006 by a full second. In addition to lowering the record, she also beat the field by nearly three seconds.
 
Peren's was the brightest highlight in a day full of light for the Sharks. LIU had strong performances in nearly every event in the morning's prelims. Every Shark in the 400 IM, 100 fly and 100 breast made the evening's finals, while every swimmer in the 100 back swam a season best.
 
In the evening's finals, LIU scored enough points as a team to leapfrog Sacred Heart and move into fifth place.
 
The Sharks got points in the 400 IM from juniors Jeanne Touchette-McGowan and Kyleigh Barao, who came in 11^th and 15^th respectively, while senior Noemie Lacroix-Moreau came in fifth in the 100 fly, with a time of 56.19. In the B final of that event, sophomore Jacqueline Grabowski added points when she came in 13^th, with a time of 57.25.
 
In the 200 free, while Peren was the top finisher, LIU also got points from sophomore Amanda San Juan (13^th – 1:55.27) and sophomore Macie Madden (16^th – 1:57.69), while sophomore Maja Uduc came in second in the C heat in 1:56.42.
 
Freshman Tara Cabiling came in fourth in the A finals of the 100 yard breaststroke, hitting the wall in 1:04.28, while freshman Mackenzie Burnett won the C final with a time of 1:07.96. Grabowski and freshman Aigan Condit both swam in the A finals of the 100 backstroke, with Grabowski coming out as LIU's top finisher. She came in fifth overall, with a time of 57.56, while Condit finished seventh, in 57.89.
 
And LIU capped the night with a second place finish in the 400 medley relay. The team of Grabowski, Cabiling, Lacroix-Moreau and Peren finished with a time of 3:48.91, scoring major points for LIU in the last event of the evening. The Sharks wrap up competition at the 2020 NEC meet Saturday, February 22, with a slew of events. The final day features prelims and finals in the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 1650 free and 400 free relay.