SOUTH KINGSTON, R.I. - The Regis College men's and women's swimming and diving teams had an excellent start to the New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships held on the campus of the University of Rhode Island on Friday.

Three school records fell and nine times were good enough to qualify for the ECAC Championships which will be held at the end of February.

Kiet Luong (Malden, Mass.) won the 100 yard butterfly (50.20), qualifying for the ECAC Championships and posting an NCAA B qualifying time. Luong was also a part of the 200 yard freestyle relay team that set a new school record and qualified for the ECAC Championships with a time of 1:26.75. The other members of the relay team all had strong days as A.J. Graf (Newton, Mass.) posted a time of 22.16 to qualify for the ECAC Championships in the 50 yard butterfly, as did Cassidy Bastinelli (Newton, Mass.) with his time of 22.44. Nick Rainville (Reading, Mass.) also qualified for the ECAC Championships in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 54.44.

On the women's side, Haley Bowen (Litchfield, N.H.) set a new school record in the 200 yard individual medley (2:15.04), breaking the record set back in 1996 by Regis Hall of Famer Kristie Kleiner. The Pride also set a new record in the 400 yard medley relay, breaking a record also set in 1996, with a time of 4:10.70. Jessica Higgins (Peabody, Mass.) qualified for the ECAC Championships in two events, the 200 yard backstroke (2:13.81) as well as the 100 yard backstroke as part of the first leg of the medley relay race.

Coach Sweeney said, "This morning we had a good morning. We missed some turns and finishes but still had many races that made finals. Tonight we had an awesome night. Everyone really stepped up the way that I had expected. We had many ECAC qualifying times and school records. The main highlights were Kiet's great win in the 100 fly, out touching second place in the last two strokes. Hayley's 200 IM in breaking a record from and NCAA Champion in Kristie Kleiner from 1996. And finally the women's 400 medley relay. It's been a long time that we even had a relay in the top 8, and they blew out the school record in an amazing team effort. Tonight really set us up for even greater swims tomorrow."

Day two of the NEISDA Championships continues tomorrow morning.