Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving Both Second After First Day of GNAC Championships

Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving Both Second After First Day of GNAC Championships

BOSTON, Mass. - The Regis (Mass.) men's and women's swimming & diving teams both find themselves in second place after the opening day of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championships at Simmons College.

The Pride set a handful of GNAC records on the day, starting with sophomore diver Elisabeth McQuaid (Marlborough, Mass.), who set both conference and pool records from the 1m board, finishing in first place with a score of 381.70. It marks the second consecutive year that McQuaid won the GNAC diving championship.

Both the men's and women's teams opened up the second session of the day winning the 200 yard freestyle. In the process, the women's team of Jessica Higgins (Peabody, Mass.), Jessica Zernitsky (Newton, Mass.), Sarah Leonard (Brockton, Mass.) and Ashlyn DeRoche (North Reading, Mass.) setting a GNAC record with a time of 1:41.25.

Zernitsky took second in the 50-yard freestyle and third in the 50-yard butterfly for Regis as the meet's ninth-leading scorer with 33 points.

Regis senior Nick Rainville (Reading, Mass.) was one of only two competitors to win a pair of events on the night, with one conference record set. Rainville won the 50 and 100 yard butterfly, with a record time of 51.27 in the 100. 

Rainville also helped the Regis squad to a relay victory to open the men's finals, swimming the lead leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay ahead of first year Diego Colindres (Newton, Mass.), junior Joshua Unas (Santa Clarita, Calif.) and senior Lawrence Reynolds (Hyde Park, Mass.) for a combined mark of 1:30.52. Rainville's opening 21.27 50-freestyle split was good for a GNAC record.

Unas joined Rainville as a winner for Regis with a first-place showing in the 200-yard individual medley after clocking in at 2:03.77 in the 200-yard individual medley. He later added a second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke to contribute to his 16 points.

The GNAC Championships will continue on Sunday, starting with preliminary rounds starting at 9:30 a.m. The finals will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday.

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