EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – The LIU women's swimming team had their best day on the last day of the 2020 Northeast Conference championship meet Saturday at the Nassau County Aquatics Center. The Sharks, who finished fifth in the team standings overall, saw two individual champions on the final day, and one of their own take the meet's top honor.
Junior
Amanda Peren was named the Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet, as she finished the weekend with three individual NEC Championships and two conference records. Peren capped her weekend with a win in the 100 free, as she took the top spot in the event with a school-record time of 49.71.
Noemie Lacroix-Moreau was also a highlight for the Sharks Saturday. The senior went full circle, as she finished her career winning an NEC championship in the event she won freshman year, the 200 butterfly. Lacroix-Moreau had one of the most exciting races of the night. A swimmer from Bryant led for the first 150 yards of the race, before Lacroix-Moreau made a push in the final 50. The senior came off the second-to-last turn in the lead, and never looked back, leading the entire final 50 yards. She would finish in a new LIU school record time of 2:03.09.
And both Peren and Lacroix-Moreau finished the night on the podium, as two of the four members of the 400 free relay team that took silver. The squad of
Jacqueline Grabowski,
Jeanne Touchette-McGowan, Peren and Lacroix-Moreau came in second, with a time of 3:26.43, less than a second away from breaking the previous LIU record.
Besides the obvious highlights, the night was filled with strong performances by the Sharks. Freshman
Reyna Iwamoto had a top finish in the first event of the evening, when she took fifth in the 1650 free, with a time of 17:32.57. Teammates
Amanda San Juan and
Macie Madden also scored points for the Sharks in the event, coming in 7
th and 8
th, respectively. Sophomore
Maja Uduc also scored in the event with her 11
th place overall finish.
In the 200 backstroke, sophomore
Jacqueline Grabowski won her heat, taking the top spot in the B finals. Grabowski touched the wall in 2:05.21, a time which would have placed her 6
th in the A finals. Freshman Aidian Condit also swam in the B finals for the Sharks, finishing 13
th with a time of 2:07.39.
In the 100 free, sophomore
Lydia Amon came in third in the C finals, hitting the wall in 53.20. Meanwhile, freshman
Tara Cabiling had a top five finish, as she came in fifth in the 200 yard breaststroke, in 2:20.15. In the B heat of that event, juniors
Jeanne Touchette-McGowan and
Kyleigh Barao went 1-2, out-touching the competition at the wall. Touchette-McGowan came in first, with a time of 2:22.34, while Barao came in second in 2:22.92, just seven hundredths of a second ahead of the next swimmer. And sophomore
Mackenzie Burnett also scored for LIU in the event, taking 16
th in 2:25.33.
The Sharks finished the meet with 415 team points, despite not having any divers competing. Up next for select members of the team is the CSCAA National Invite, taking place in Cleveland, Ohio, March 12-14.
