Robert Wood Earns Two Titles at GNAC Championships Saturday

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Freshman Robert Wood (Cathedral City, Calif.) collected two individual titles as the 2020 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Swimming and Diving Championships continued Saturday at the Boston Sports Institute.

Wood first cruised to an eight-second victory in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:51.02, over 12 seconds faster than his preliminary time in the morning. Brendan Pike (Weymouth, Mass.) also performed better in the finals, cutting 7.4 seconds off his preliminary time to finish second in 4:59.37, and Grant Kollien (Acton, Mass.) chopped over 18 seconds off his morning mark to end up fourth in the evening final with a time of 5:06.89.

In the 200 individual medley, Wood posted a winning time of 2:02.20, over three seconds quicker than his mark earlier in the day and over five seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. Wood capped the night by leading off the 400 medley relay, joining with Pike, GianCarlos Banrey (Roslindale, Mass.), and Kollien to finish second with a time of 3:46.85.

Banrey came close to earning the third individual GNAC title of his career, finishing second in the 50 backstroke with a time of 25.51 seconds, just 5/100ths of a second behind Husson's Steven Johnston. Kollien also scored for the Pride in the 100 butterfly, finishing in ninth place in the final in 59.74 seconds.

As a team, the Pride men ended the session in third place with 119 points, just two points behind second place Husson. Norwich University sits comfortably in the lead with 271 points.

The 2020 GNAC Swimming and Diving Championships conclude Sunday, Feb. 2, starting with the preliminaries for eight swimming events at 9:30 a.m. The finals of those events, along with the traditional meet-concluding 400 freestyle relay, will commence at 4 p.m.