EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Both the Long Island University men's and women's swimming and diving teams finished 6th at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Winter Championships this weekend, with the meet concluding on Sunday evening.
The LIU men's team scored 839.5 points, while the LIU women's team finished the meet with 676 points.
"The goal of this mid-season meet is to get an indicator on where we are individually and as a team," LIU head coach Jon Pepaj said. "Our boys and girls want to win, but with the smallest roster in the championship, we have to focus on quality swims and winning events. Our boys and girls did that."
The three-day ECAC Winter Championships began on Friday at the Nassau County Aquatic Center, and featured highlight performances from various Shark swimmers.
Friday Highlights
Sophomore Finn Drysdale (500-yard freestyle, 4:24.79), junior Lara Wielkiewicz (200-yard individual medley, 2:06.1), and senior Gabriela Lima (50-yard freestyle, 23.66) each claimed wins in their respective events.
The LIU women's 200-yard freestyle (Liene Vientiesa, Alexandra Ciorna, Amanda Gkeli, and Lima; 1:34.86) finished 2nd, and the Shark men's 200-yard freestyle relay (Mario Rodriguez Poulsen, Léandre Renault, Emilio Garcia, and Polat Tasbasi; 1:21.6) took 3rd.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Poulsen finished 4th (20.41) and Tasbasi took 8th (20.68).
Saturday Highlights
Tasbasi set a new program-best time in the 100-yard breaststroke, as the Ankara, Turkey native finished the event in 53.24 seconds. Rodriguez Poulsen won the 200-yard freestyle, posting a time of 1:38.64, while Drysdale finished 4th in the event with a time of 1:39.13.
In the 400-yard individual medley, Wielkiewicz took 4th (4:33.00) and senior Anapaula Gomez Janeiro finished 5th (5:34.12).Gkeli took 5th in the 100-yard backstroke with a personal-best time of 56.69 seconds.
In relays, the LIU men set a new program record in the 800-yard freestyle (Renault, Drysdale, Garcia, and Rodriguez Poulsen) with a time of 6:38.13. The Shark men also took 3rd in the 200-yard medley relay (Ayden Almaraz, Tasbasi, Martin Navelsaker Beitveit, and Renault), finishing in 1:28.49.
Sunday Highlights
Two program records were set on Sunday; Drysdale's time of 15:24.57 in the 1,650-yard freestyle is a new LIU record, and also shaved nearly six seconds off the previous best time at the ECAC Winter Championships. In addition, Rodriguez Poulsen set an LIU record in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing in 44.19 seconds. Renault finished 3rd in the same event, posting a time of 44.42 seconds.
Wielkiewicz finished on top of the podium in the 200-yard butterfly, finishing in 2:06.17 minutes.
Both the LIU men and women finished in the top three of the 400-yard freestyle relay; the LIU men (Rodriguez Poulsen, Drysdale, Garcia, and Renault) finished 1st with as time of 2:59.31, while the LIU women (Gkeli, Wielkiewicz, Vientiesa, and Lima) took 3rd, finishing in 3:29.73 minutes.
"I wasn't expecting team records this early in the season, but our swimmers have been putting in the work day in and day out," Pepaj said. "I was very happy with all the newcomers' performances. Eyes on NEC championships now!"
LIU returns to competition on Jan. 16, when they host Le Moyne College.
