Swimming & Diving

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New Haven, Conn. – The Southern Connecticut State University men’s and women’s swim teams swept the Northeast-10 Conference meet, winning the meet with scores of 902 for the men and 1030 for the women.

The Southern Connecticut women were followed by Le Moyne with 857 points, Bentley with 609, Bryant with 379, St. Rose with 315, Pace with 238 and St. Michael’s with 233 total points.

On the men’s side, Southern Connecticut was followed by St. Rose with 708 and Bentley with 660.5 points. Le Moyne finished with 548.5 points and was followed by Bryant with 335.5, St. Michael’s with 246 and pace with 183.5 points.

Southern Connecticut kicked off the evening with first, second and third place finishes in the Women’s 100 meter freestyle. Amy Browning was followed by teammates Katie Meleg and Crystal Turi as the Owls went 1-2-3. On the men’s side, Ricky Chidsey finished with a time of 46.95 to edge out Southern’s Dan Vitagliano and Bryant’s Ray Savner to take the win.

Le Moyne junior Alison Lesher tied the NE-10 meet record with a time of 5:01 to take the victory in the women’s 500 yard freestyle. She finished nearly 10 seconds ahead of second place finisher, Southern freshman Emily Sundel. St. Rose’s Sean Molloy out touched Marcus Cantu of Southern Connecticut, at the wall, to win on the men’s side with a time of 4:58.69.

Lesher, who finished with a time of 2:08.50, took first place in the women’s 200 yard butterfly as well. She was followed by teammate Meghan Nugent (2:17.96) and Bentley’s Kristen Thuerk (2:19.74).

In the women’s 400 yard freestyle relay it was Southern Connecticut who came away with the win. Southern’s team comprised of Katie Meleg, Rachel Heyer, Crystal Turi and Amy Browning set a new meet record with a time of 3:37.40.

Most Valuable Athletes of the meet were also named at the end of the night. Lescher and Chidsey, both of Le Moyne came away with the honors.

Ali Bronson of Southern Connecticut and Brendan Birchak of St. Rose each won both the one and three meter diving competitions during the 2006 Northeast-10 Conference Meet.

Bronson finished the one meter event with 375.05 points and finished the three meter event with 398.50 points. She was followed in the one meter by Tezzy bergantz of Bentley (296.40) and Tierney Carey of St. Michael’s (281.10). In the three meter competition Alex Bergantz from Bentley finished second to Bronson with 341.35 points and was followed by teammate Katie Faria with 305.65 points.

In the men’s one meter competition Birchak finished with 517.85 points, good for a new NE-10 record, and was followed by Jason Flores from Southern Connecticut with 390.15 points and Kyle Reese from Bentley with 324.20 points.

Birchak finished with 573.40 points in the men’s three meter competition, again setting the NE-10 record. He was followed by Flores (410.80) and Reese (316.09). Birchak was named the meet’s Most Valuable Diver.